Graeme McDowell is set to play a third season on LIV Golf with Brooks Koepka’s Smash GC expected to hand him a contract lifeline.
McDowell’s two-year deal had expired at the end of the 2023 season and he was not due an automatic renewal having failed to finish inside the top-24 in the 48-man individual standings. He had registered just one top-10 in two years on the Saudi breakaway tour.
Despite this, the Portrush man earned over €5 million in his two seasons on LIV.
Speculation was rife that the 2010 US Open champion was going to rejoin the DP World Tour as a member after his former Cleeks GC teammate Bernd Wiesberger received category 11 membership for this term.
According to James Corrigan in the Telegraph, McDowell would have been forced to pay the financial penalty of leaving the DP World Tour out of his own pocket under the terms of his expired LIV contract.
The move to Koepka’s Smash GC is a massive stroke of luck for McDowell who can surely look forward to more lucrative earnings and even a greater opportunity for trophies given he will be alongside the US PGA Champion.
A place opened up on Koepka’s Smash GC side after his brother, Chase, was relegated from the LIV Golf League.
“I’m not sure McDowell can believe his luck,” an insider told the Telegraph. “Obviously, all was not rosy on the Cleeks and with G-Mac and Kaymer. He thought he was out of LIV and would have to be participating on the Asian Tour next year. Playing alongside Koepka – probably the best player on LIV – is a massive result for him.”
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