Graeme McDowell, the 2010 U.S. Open champion, was a member of the victorious 2001 Great Britain and Ireland Walker Cup Team that won, 15-9, at Ocean Forest Golf Club in Sea Island, Ga. It was only the second-ever GB&I victory on U.S. soil. Ironically, both came in the state of Georgia. McDowell, a former All-American at the University of Alabama-Birmingham, produced a 2-2-0 overall record.
What do you remember about your Walker Cup experience at Sea Island?
I'll never forget that. It was a special week. We had a nice team put together and Peter McEvoy was our captain. A lot of things he did that week for very special. It was a big moment in my career and it really helped me become the player that I am today. And Sea Island was a fantastic venue for it.
What did you enjoy most about the week?
I love team golf. I always have loved team golf. It's awesome. Anything I've ever been able to play in that involves that team aspect is a lot of fun and something that I enjoy. Plus, we were able to win that week and the celebration afterwards was quite special, I can tell you that – to win the Walker Cup in America ... good times. It was cool.
Was there one moment that stood out from the week?
Well, the matches themselves were good ones. I won both my alternate-shot matches with Michael Hoey, and I felt really good about that and about how I was playing, but I drew Bryce Molder in both singles matches and I lost them both. He was the Number 1 amateur in the world at the time, and I got a baptism of fire there. If I could have taken him in the second day singles ... I needed to win the last hole, and if I had done that I would have been the guy to hole the winning putt for GB&I. It didn't turn out that way, but we still won there, and that was fantastic.