McDowell discovers form to share Heritage lead with Every

Harbour Town Golf Links was apparently the elixir that Graeme McDowell has been requiring.

Scuffling through the 2014-15 season thus far, the Northern Irishman and 2013 RBC Heritage champion shot a 5-under-par 66 for his first round in the 60s this calendar year on the PGA Tour and shares the lead after the first round with Matt Every.

“Some good memories and some good visuals for me on this golf course, and it was nice to plug back into some of those and make a few birdies,” McDowell said.

The two leaders are a shot better than Sangmoon Bae of South Korea, and two better than five players tied for fourth place including defending champion Matt Kuchar and Kevin Kisner of Aiken.

Ian Poulter and 2010 British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen are among 13 players who shot 69 on a cool and moderately windy day in Hilton Head on a course that was relatively dry despite withstanding more than 2 inches of rain overnight.

Though he didn’t perform well in his first three Heritage appearances between 2005 and 2011, McDowell has found the Harbour Town formula with the 2013 win and a tie for 23^rd last year.

It’s the site of one of his two PGA Tour wins, along with the U.S. Open to go along with eight European Tour wins.

A stalwart on the past four European Ryder Cup Teams – the past three on the winning side – McDowell is 143^rd in FedExCup points despite a tie for third in the WGC-HSBC Champions in November near the start of the 2014-15 season.

Since the turn of the year, he has completed 72 holes in just two of five events with a withdrawal, two missed cuts and two finishes outside the top 50, with his best score in a dozen rounds being a 71.

He does have ties for ninth and 36^th in a pair of European Tour events in early February, and has fallen to 31^st in the Official World Golf Ranking.

“I’ve been working really hard the last four or five weeks especially,” McDowell said. “I've been grinding. I really have. I've got to be honest with you. It's been four or five weeks of grinding for me. We always say you've got to stick to process, not get obsessed with results. Every now and then you need a little something, though, just to keep you happy. I needed something like this. And I hope that will settle me down.”

McDowell, 35, enjoys the premium Pete Dye’s tree-lined Harbour Town design places on positioning, ball flight control and shot-making rather than length off the tee. He has been struggling to hit a fade this year.

“I'm not going to say it's 100 percent back in the bag, but it's really close,” McDowell said. “I hit some good shaped shots out there today, sort of in that right-to-left wind. It's getting there.”

He’s coming off a tie for 52^nd in the Masters with four rounds between 71 and 76. “It's always a tough golf course for me. I find it hard to walk away with much positives there, even though I love it as much as I do,” said McDowell, who is one of several players in the field with an endorsement and financial services agreement with title sponsor RBC.

“But coming here, the RBC, the hospitality does such a good job here, and there's always such a good vibe, good food, great atmosphere and great Southern hospitality. And it's such a different golf course than last week.”

McDowell tied for second in the field Thursday by hitting 13 greens in regulation.

“I drove it in the fairway, which I haven't been doing enough this year, and I just felt really good on the greens,” McDowell said.

A bogey on the first hole was McDowell’s only bogey of the day, and he made a 32-foot birdie putt on the par-5 second hole to get back to even, and went on to birdie holes 5, 7, 10, 12 and 13. He made four putts between 9 and 19 feet on Harbour Town’s smaller and flatter greens compared to Augusta National.

“The flat stick was behaving itself after a rough week on the greens last week at Augusta,” McDowell. “… It was nice to feel more settled on the greens again.”

Every is seeking his second PGA Tour win this season, having won the Arnold Palmer Invitational last month, which is his only top-20 of the season. He tied for 35^th in the Valero Texas Open and missed the cut at the Masters in his two events since then.

“Augusta last week, that place just isn't for me,” said Every, who first earned his PGA Tour card by winning the 2009 Web.com Tour Championship at Daniel Island Club outside Charleston. “So I'm playing well and I feel like I still have that momentum.”

Every had consecutive chip-ins for birdies on holes 6 and 7, where he holed out from 50 and 20 feet, and nearly pulled off a chip-in hat trick, chipping to a foot from 80 feet on the eighth hole. Every hit just seven greens in regulation but needed only 20 putts on Harbour Town’s small greens. He two-putted just four holes.

“Man, my short game was awesome, the best it’s been in a long time,” Every said. “I saved a ton of shots. I probably shouldn’t have shot 5 under, more like even, but I’ll take it. It was really greasy today. It's a weird game, probably the worst I've hit it in a while. Last week I felt like I hit it great and I missed the cut.”

Every has had relative success at Harbour Town, tying for eighth in 2012 and 12^th last year.

“I like the small greens, which kind of puts a premium on your iron play,” Every said.

This story was originally published April 16, 2015 at 9:17 PM with the headline "McDowell discovers form to share Heritage lead with Every."