Sept. 18, 2008

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Former UAB golfer, Graeme McDowell and his European teammates tee off Friday in search of a fourth consecutive Ryder Cup. The competition starts tomorrow and takes place in Louisville, Ky. at the Valhalla Golf Club.

"This is exciting for Graeme and it is great for our program," UAB head coach Alan Kaufman said. "I am proud to see Graeme has had this kind of success. I think his future is very bright."

This is set to be McDowell's first Ryder Cup appearance after placing sixth on the European Tour's Order of Merit. He is currently ranked 32nd in the world after winning the Barclay's Scottish Open and finishing tied for 15th at the PGA Championship.

As a Blazer, McDowell racked up awards ranging from the Conference USA Athlete of the Decade (1995-2005) to the Fred Haskins Award Winner in 2002. The Fred Haskins Award is given to the top collegiate golfer. He was named PING All-American first-team in 2001-02 and the second team in 2000-01. McDowell was also tabbed to the C-USA All-Decade team (1995-2005) and named C-USA's Player of the year twice (2000-01, 2001-02). In 2002, he was a GolfStat award recipient, which is given to the golfer with the lowest average score (69.9). In all McDowell won nine tournaments and had 24 top-10 finishes for the Blazers.

Play begins Friday morning at 7:05 a.m. CDT and concludes on Sunday. The European team has won the previous three events, which are played every other year. Since 1983 Europe is 7-4-1 against the United States.