Graeme McDowell is actually playing some good golf this year. It’s just a shame nobody noticed or cares for that matter. After admitting his regret over his bullish backing of LIV Golf he is aiming to rebuild his legacy on the DP World Tour next year.
As recently as last month McDowell was still towing the turbo Petro-charged LIV Golf line as his Smash GC team were rebranded as Oklahoma Golf Club as some sort of nonsense homage to the hometown of teammate Talor Gooch.
Fans online cringed at McDowell’s LinkedIn style speech as he helplessly tried to play up to the backers of the Saudi backed tour who were in the midst of sending the breakaway league into turmoil by withdrawing funding.
In fact, on most occasions where G Mac has picked up a microphone since joining LIV Golf in 2022 it has been a David Brent like disaster. At that point in his career he was yesterday’s man. A fantastic career looked to be winding down. He hadn’t made a major championship appearance since 2020 and had slipped from 80th in the world to outside the top-300.
His best years undoubtedly behind him and with that comes reduced media attention. That first LIV press conference featuring McDowell was as if he picked up a microphone and couldn’t stop talking even though he knew he should.
“I really feel golf is a force of good in the world and I love using the game of golf as something to help grow around the world and be role models to kids,” said McDowell on the same day where he fielded questions on the murder and dismemberment of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
“If Saudi Arabia want to use the game of golf as a way for them to get to where they want to be, I think we’re proud to help them on that journey, using the game of golf and the abilities we have to help grow the sport.”
Now that the lavish pipe dream of LIV Golf looks like it is about to hit a cul de sac, McDowell has ditched the self serving mantra to massage the PIF bankrollers and has finally spoken honestly.
“I should have just said it for what it was: this is good for my bank account, and I’m getting a runway to play the game of golf for as long as I possibly can,” he told Sports Illustrated.
“I don’t think we could have ever imagined how deep this would go. The hatred. It’s funny, but if we can shift the narrative away from Saudi Arabia and bring some US money and get rid of that narrative … because that narrative is just nasty.”
We all knew that is what it was. He was taking the Richard Bland route of prolonging his career and making as much money as he possibly could.
Over the last five seasons, McDowell’s reputation has been arguably irreparably damaged. Although he has settled his DP World Tour fines and is looking for a way back he had been cast away from the European scene, his name doesn’t even raise an eyebrow when absent from Irish Open fields and his supposed Ryder Cup captaincy for Adare Manor next year? Gone long before the debate around Luke Donald taking a third term began.
Saudi Arabian sports washing is a fickle thing. They aren’t here for the long term, the only records the country seems intent on breaking is in executions – congrats on 356 people in 2025, up 11 on 2024 figures.
The Saudis have already shelved tennis, snooker and rugby projects while Newcastle United fans have grown frustrated at their state backed powerhouses for not investing tenfold into the club so they can buy success.
It’s as if McDowell and co picked the wrong heinous regime whereas Saudi’s Petro pumped state rivals Qatar and the UAE are here for the long haul across the sporting landscape.
There are some players on the LIV Golf League who don’t give a damn what people think of them. But I believe that the scathing outside noise has hurt McDowell. I think he cares what people think of him hence why he has taken a vow of sensitivity and honesty.
When he tees it up in the US Open in two weeks at Shinnecock Hills it will be a symbol of what the 2010 winner has sacrificed in the name of dirty money. So long forgotten in the Irish golfing landscape I’m sure there will be people who were unaware that he even qualified, or given how he fares in the event, was even in the field in the first place.
It’s a shame that the 46-year-old’s legacy has been tarnished. Here we have one of Irish golf’s greatest ever players, a European Ryder Cup legend and a proud holder of 11 DP World Tour titles and perhaps one or two more had he remained.
McDowell openly has regrets over how fractured the golfing landscape has become, but those regrets are easy to have when the hand that fed you for five years has said no more.
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