Graeme McDowell Is Unsure of LIV Golf Future but Hopes to Be Part of Ryder Cup Again Someday
SUGAR GROVE, Ill. – It never gets old. The memories, the feelings, the achievement. Having been such a big part of a Ryder Cup—holing a highlight-reel putt to the sound of thunderous, delirious joy—has Graeme McDowell reliving the drama 13 years later.
Helping Europe win the Ryder Cup over the United States in 2010 at Celtic Manor remains a career highlight, bigger than winning the U.S. Open, McDowell said. Such is the allure of the biennial competition that takes place next week in Italy.
Of course, McDowell will not be there, and it doesn’t take long for him to address that subject, without prompting.
“I’m disappointed not to be there in Rome,” McDowell said at Rich Harvest Farms, where he is competing this weekend in the LIV Golf Chicago event. “Obviously I knew that would be potentially a consequence of being here at LIV. I didn’t expect to be on the team, but I expected to be potentially part of the backroom staff.
“And I’ve enjoyed doing that, and I would have loved to have done it again. But I understand what is going on right now. I wish the team well.”
McDowell’s participation in LIV Golf made him ineligible for the Ryder Cup, along with other past stalwarts such as Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter, Henrik Stenson and Sergio Garcia.
And their futures as potential Ryder Cup assistants or captains remain in doubt, even with the “framework agreement” that is supposed to lead to peace between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and LIV Golf.
“I think it’s very hard to see how the Ryder Cup can unfold without Poulter and Garcia and Westwood and Stenson and [Paul Casey] and myself,” McDowell said. “It’s hard to see it unfold without those names. I see a world where we put our differences behind us. LIV proceeds and is a recognized tour, and the PGA Tour DP World Tours proceed as recognized tours and we all live in the ecosystem together.
“Whether we merge or don’t merge, as long as we respect each other for what we’re doing, I can see a world where we all get along and hopefully that means being part of the Ryder Cup ecosystem.”
McDowell, 44, an 11-time winner on the DP World Tour who also won four times on the PGA Tour, played in four Ryder Cups, including winning teams in 2010, 2012 and 2014. His overall record is 8-5-2. He’s also been an assistant captain twice.
McDowell won the final, Cup-clinching point in 2010.
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His biggest moment came in the last match of the 2010 Ryder Cup, where the U.S. put on a furious final-day rally that meant the outcome of McDowell’s game with Hunter Mahan would be the difference.
“We had a pretty good lead, and [captain Colin] Montgomerie put me out 12th man on Monday,” said McDowell, whose team lead 9 ½ to 6 ½ heading into the weather-plagued Monday finish. “I remember being very disappointed at the time. I’m going to miss all the fun. I figured it would be won by the seventh or eighth man or something like that.”
But the Americans made a strong rally, winning six matches and tying two others. They needed just a half point to retain the Cup they had won in 2008. That meant McDowell needed to win his match, and while he was ahead on the back nine, Mahan pulled within one hole through the 15th.
“The rule is, when you’re in the back of the pack in the singles, you don’t look at the leaderboard,” McDowell said. “Just in case the situation might get to you. You keep your head down and get your point. And I was doing that. I was a couple up on Hunter on the 11th hole, and I was lining up my putt and there was this huge leaderboard right on my line. A huge screen. And all I could see was a lot of red on there. I started doing the math a little bit, and I realized it was going to be close. And all of a sudden I could feel the pressure start to build with me.”
When McDowell saw Montgomerie on the 16th hole, he learned that the Americans had gotten to 13 ½ points. It meant he had to win, which McDowell said “refocused me. I couldn’t be more nervous anyway. And I thought the tunnel vision kicked in.”
Two weeks prior to his U.S. Open victory at Pebble Beach, McDowell won a European Tour event at the same Wales course where the Ryder Cup was played. He felt that helped him, especially reading the 15-footer he had for birdie on that hole, the one that went in and rocked the countryside.
“It put me 2 up with two [holes] to play,” McDowell said. “Obviously looking back it was an epic putt. You’ve got Rory [McIlroy] and Sergio and the European team standing beside the green. All my peers and heroes. To make that putt was pretty cool.”
But the match still was not complete. Mahan could have won the last two holes and gotten a tie, but a chunked chip shot on the 17th hole ultimately doomed him. He was unlikely to win the hole anyway as he probably needed to chip in, as McDowell was on the green looking to close out the match.
McDowell also was on winning teams at Medinah and Gleneagles before being an assistant captain to Thomas Bjorn in 2018 and Padraig Harrington in 2021.
For now, McDowell continues to try and find some form, with his LIV Golf future uncertain. McDowell is only contracted through this season, which means he could be left out next year if he does not finish among the top 24 players on the season-long points list. McDowell is 39th and has just three top-20 results and none in the top 10 in 11 events prior to Chicago. The tournament next month in Jeddah is the final individual event.
LIV Golf has not announced official details, but anyone outside of the top 24 who does not have a contract (such as a captain) does not have to be retained. The bottom four non-contracted players will be relegated with four coming on board for 2024 via the top player on the International Series and three from a Promotions event.
“And when you start looking at the list between 25 and 44, you have a lot of contracted players in there,” McDowell said. “Obviously my contract runs out at the end of the year. It’s the unknown. We’re moving into a unique thing that’s never happened. A transfer market, a free agency window. Will LIV bring any players from the outside? I don’t know. It could be zero, it could be 10.
“Being logical about it, I have to look at the list of guys and know I have to be vulnerable. I feel like I’ve been a good spokesman for the league and a good ambassador for the tour and hopefully there is a captain who wants me on his team.”
McDowell plays for the Cleeks, a team captained by another European Ryder Cup hero, Martin Kaymer—who holed the winning putt at Medinah in 2012.
The way it is expected to work is any player in the top 24 retains a spot in the league but is free to negotiate with another team. There is also the possibility that McDowell suggested which could see LIV Golf sign new players, something that has yet to happen in 2023 after considerable disruption last year.
“I will cross that bridge when I come to it,’’ McDowell said. “I’ve felt my mortality before LIV came along. I’d been struggling for a few years. Right after COVID, I probably had the worst 18 months of my career. So trying to stay in the moment right now and finish as strong as I can.”
In the meantime, he’ll take in the Ryder Cup next week from afar, rooting on his fellow Europeans while perhaps sneaking a peak at an old clip that is sure to be shown.
“When you go back and look at reruns and highlights and shots that were hit,” he said. “The atmosphere and the crowds. That was something special.”