Saturday 15 October 2016 18:54, UK
Graeme McDowell declared he had regained his "hunger" for playing golf after a third-round 67 kept him in contention for a first European Tour win in over two years at the British Masters.
McDowell will go into the final day six shots behind leader Alex Noren at The Grove, and the former US Open champion could have been even closer to the Swede had he not dropped his only shot of the day at the last hole.
The 37-year-old, whose last win in Europe was the French Open in 2014, got off to a flying start with birdies at the first two holes, and an interview on the eighth with Sky Sports' Tim Barter clearly had an energising effect as he reeled off three consecutive birdies around the turn.
The putts dried up down the stretch and McDowell then three-putted the 18th green from long range to slip back to 10 under par, but he shrugged off his late blip and insisted he still had a "sniff" of a chance at catching Noren.
"I'm feeling physically as good as I have in a long time and mentally I've got the hunger back on the golf course," said McDowell. "It's just a case of being patient, not getting too disappointed with a six at the last and coming back out tomorrow and executing my game and we'll see what happens.
"I'm trending in the right direction, and obviously through 10 holes I was in really good shape. Coming into the tough part of the course, 11 through 14, I maybe got a little tight and a little conservative, didn't stay aggressive enough and had some great chances coming in.
"I was always in the mix, but it was a day where I positioned myself where I need to be, and I've got a sniff tomorrow," added McDowell, who also paid tribute to crowd turn-out as well as the conditioning of the course at The Grove.
"Great crowds, great support and the weather is behaving itself, as well," he said. "And for this time of year, the greens are top, top-notch. England, October, you're not really expecting this level of world-class greens.
"The Grove have really put on a great display this week and the facilities are fantastic. It's easy to have good speed when the greens are this good."
McDowell is one shot behind his former Ryder Cup team-mate Lee Westwood, who continued his positive response from a difficult month with a flawless 67 that lifted him to 11 under par.
Westwood lost all three of his matches at Hazeltine and missed the cut by a distance at last week's Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, but he is delighted with his form over the last three days.
He said: "You have to be able to forget stuff and move on. You can only try your hardest and if that's not good enough you move on to the next tournament and try to do well from there.
"I played well today and gave myself lots of chances, but you have to stay patient. You look at this course and think, 'I can shoot really low here', but if you don't treat it right and lose patience you can make bogeys quite easily.
"I didn't make a bogey, which was nice, and it was a good, solid, professional performance all round."
