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GMac reminds us in defeat why he's a major champion

Graeme McDowell contemplates his 81. Or poses for a photoshoot - we can't tell © PA Photos

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Almost exactly 12 months on from the biggest success of his career to date, Graeme McDowell continues to show why he is a major champion.

That's not a misprint. The Northern Irishman may have won the Wales Open in 2010 - the precursor to his defining success at Pebble Beach just a few weeks later - but arguably his 81 in the same event just last Saturday, as he dropped out of contention like a stone, told us - or reinforced to us - much more about him as a player.

Or, more accurately, how he responded to that 'misfortune' did.

The golf was ugly, of that there is no denying. But McDowell's reaction was illuminating. He didn't shirk his media responsibilities, despite having just completed the worst round of his professional career. He accepted the inquest would come, took the questions thrown at him and responded to them with his customary openness and good humour.

And then he took to Twitter, telling his near 200,000 followers that there was "only one solution" to his "cricket score" - and tweeted a picture of said solution.

A bottle of beer.

His game might be in something of a state right now - erratic, if not exactly out of control - but that will doubtless be fixed in due course. In the meantime, he's bringing himself a lot of credit with his attitude, not to mention bringing to mind those famous words of Rudyard Kipling.

He's shown himself to be a man who treats those twin impostors of success and failure just the same. And that, coupled with his (usually) syrupy-sweet golf swing, is why he is a major champion - and may well be one again in the future.

Golf, after all, is a game that taxes the brain as much as the body. Players who succeed at the very highest level are usually those who can keep their emotions balanced - the differences in actual ability across a 150-man field are usually so small that, ultimately, that's the biggest variable.

Consequently, it is often the defining one (well, that and close-range putting).

The difference in ball-striking quality between, say, Retief Goosen and Sergio Garcia is negligible. If anything, nine out of ten observers would say the Spaniard is the more naturally talented of the two.

But Goosen is a two-time major champion, at the US Open no less, primarily because there has arguably not been a player as good as him since Ben Hogan as reacting with the same indifference to good shots as poor ones.

Golf, after all, is a game that will punish you without a moment's notice. Once upon a time, Nick Dougherty was the next big thing of British golf. Sir Nick Faldo's chosen heir, the 29-year-old has three wins on the European Tour - the last of them coming just under two years ago.

Having got married over the winter - to Sky Sports' Di Stewart, no less - Dougherty should be entering an Indian summer in his career. Instead, you and I have earned as much money as he has from professional tournaments this year: 12 missed cuts from 12 tournaments.

Worse, he hasn't finished under par for those two rounds in a single event.

Such runs soon see players slip out of the spotlight, so their suffering goes on almost unnoticed and their response is left unrecorded. How Dougherty is responding to his current problems - maintaining perspective, or (perfectly understandably) letting the dark clouds envelope him - may define how soon and how far he can eventually recover.

Players can still prosper with what, in comparison to McDowell, might be classed as a 'negative' character, of course. Colin Montgomerie for one won eight Order of Merit titles while wearing any number of emotions on his sleeve.

Colin Montgomerie hardly stepped away from the spotlight Ryder Cup captaincy brought © Getty Images

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But he never won a major - and probably now never will - and perhaps that shouldn't be all that surprising. The Scot always seemed to put too much stock, and consequently pressure, into winning to be able to greet the prospect of great success with the indifference it demands until it is actually realised.

It may have helped him on the European Tour, but it didn't help him in majors. And perhaps it isn't helping him now, when his game is fading and he can find no way to recover it.

Now he holds onto other triumphs, like Europe's Ryder Cup victory he presided over last year, to keep his ego properly inflated.

Montgomerie's insistence on still referring to the graduates of the Celtic Manor Ryder Cup team as "my boys" at every opportunity comes across not as endearing, but as a not-so-subtle way of linking himself back to a memorable triumph.

The Scot, regrettably, seems to buy into one of golf's overriding fallacies - that the captain of a Ryder Cup side has any tangible impact on the result. The winning captain gets praised, the losing one gets panned. That's the way it always has been, and always will be. Their actual contributions are ultimately irrelevant.

But would Montgomerie be acting in a similar fashion had he been on the losing side? Of course not. Mentions of the day would be muted; blame would again not-so-subtly be dispersed.

He rarely, if ever, shot an 81 during his prime - but he still picked up a reputation as a prickly and agitated figure if anything ever went wrong. God forbid the cameraman forced to follow him when putts were not dropping, or the spectators standing too close when his drives were missing fairways.

Montgomerie has always put too much stock in winning, as both justification and affirmation - perhaps forgivable considering his record as a player, but nevertheless a character flaw waiting to be exposed.

And, under the intense pressure of the back nine of a major championship, for Monty it too often was.

Next week, the US Open returns to Congressional - the site of one of the more heart-breaking of Montgomerie's five major championship runner-up finishes (in 1997). The Scot, barring an absolute miracle, will not be there for another bite at the apple.

McDowell, on the other hand, will head for the country club's imposing clubhouse as the reigning champion. And - win, lose, or draw - we'll all know where he will be come Sunday.

At the bar, with a beer.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.