SOREN Kjeldsen, the Great Dane who won the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open at Royal County Down last year, and Graeme McDowell have the same ambition in mind for over the next few weeks.
They both have a burning ambition to get into Darren Clarke’s Ryder Cup team.
Both know they have work to do to get that coveted spot, especially McDowell who is currently at No 80 in the Race to Dubai, 69 places behind Kjeldsen. But both will be striving to improve their positions this week at The K Club.
Kjeldsen is just one big win away from getting an automatic place in the Ryder Cup team, a position that was only a dream for the man from Aalborg a year ago. Since then his form has taken a rising curve.
The 41-year-old was two shots clear going into the final day’s play, at Newcastle, but struggled over the closing 18 holes to post a 76 and joined Eddie Pepperell and Bernd Wiesberger at the top of the leaderboard to force a three-way shoot-out for the title.
The Dane made good use of his second chance and clinched the title with a steel-nerved two-putt birdie from 35 feet. That was the catalyst that has now hurled him into a challenging position to grab his first Ryder Cup cap.
Since then, he has produced some good results and from being 303 in the world he is now inside the top 40. He has had nine top ten finishes in the last 12 months, including being seventh in the Masters.
For the first two rounds, this week, the defending champion will play alongside tournament host Rory McIlroy.
“Last year was a fantastic win for me, and sort of a big turning point in my career as well after struggling for a few years. The last 12 months have been great, so I’m trying to keep that going,” said the defending champion.
“I was very pleased to see that I’m playing with Rory. I’ve always loved playing with Rory. He’s a fantastic player and a great guy. There is always a great atmosphere here. I’ve been coming to Ireland for 18 years now on tour, so I’ve always enjoyed that. The crowds are very knowledgeable, always got a sense of humour and create a good atmosphere.”
A spot in the Ryder Cup squad would be suitable reward for Soren’s huge improvement over the past 12 months and it would also be a prize for Graeme McDowell’s comeback from some poor results.
“I’ve generally been feeling good about my game this year. Started off kind of strong in the Florida Swing. Lost my way a little bit, sort of, into the Matchplay at Augusta but hit the reset button after Hilton Head and came back last week, starting to get those good feelings back again,” said the Portrush man.
“The weekend of the Players’ (Championship) was nice on a lot of levels, gave me that bit of confidence coming here and into next week, as well.
“I’m looking forward to the summer with three Majors to play here in the next few months and looking to the French Open with double Ryder Cup points.
“There’s lots of jockeying for position to come in the next few months and I feel I’m well positioned, mentally and physically, to do that.”
McDowell was part of the veteran’s dinner that Darren Clarke hosted last week so that inspired him to visualise being at Hazeltine for the Ryder Cup and being part of the team.
“It was a nice little bit of motivation that I needed,” said McDowell who wants to earn his place automatically.
“It goes without saying that I want to be on the team, but I don’t want to be a pick for sure.”
