Okay, so maybe Graeme McDowell didn’t find his game after all

All that talk earlier in the week about Graeme McDowell finding his golf game? Yeah, maybe that was a little premature. After firing three sub-70 rounds at the Players, McDowell came back to earth in the final round, as he watched as a one-shot lead turn into a three-plus shot deficit as the round progressed.

Conditions on the course were prime for scoring, but McDowell once again had issues with his swing that saw him tally three bogeys in a four hole stretch to finish his front nine, including a snap-hook on the ninth hole that looked very reminiscent of a shot another Northern Irishman hit recently in the middle of a pressure-packed final round.

But unlike McIlroy's collapse at the Masters, McDowell's implosion during the middle of the round had nothing to do with a lack of experience, and everything to do with a swing that's still giant question mark. G-Mac kept rehearsing his swing on the tee box, from the fairway, and in the trees, a place he spent much of the round, as he tried to put a band-aid on the biggest problem with his swing, which is a clear lack of trust in where the ball is going.

McDowell is too good of a player to not get his swing back in order soon, but he definitely needs to spend some more time working with long-time swing coach Pete Cowan before he gets rid of the straight left shot off the tee that seems to be plaguing him.

We saw a couple rounds of where McDowell's game could be in the near future, but for the moment, he's still stuck in a gray area that makes him a stretch to defend his U.S. Open title at Congressional.