2010 PGA U.S. Open Champion Candid Viewpoint Flares Up Golf’s Great Divide
Since LIV Golf launched in 2022, the professional golf landscape has been defined by division and rivalry. What began as an ambitious, Saudi-funded venture through the Public Investment Fund quickly evolved into a flashpoint, especially after several top PGA Tour players defected to the new league. The situation intensified when news broke of potential merger discussions. The proposed alliance between the PIF and the PGA Tour, which involved prominent figures such as Donald Trump, PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan, and PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, initially suggested the possibility of reconciliation. Yet nearly three years later, the agreement remains unresolved and mired in uncertainty. Now, debate over golf’s ongoing rift has reignited, this time fueled by outspoken remarks from Graeme McDowell.
Once viewed as a natural choice for a future Ryder Cup captain, McDowell now finds himself sidelined. After narrowly missing the cut at the LINK Hong Kong Open, the Northern Irishman spoke candidly and didn’t mince words. “People will say I don’t deserve it and I’m responsible for a lot of what’s happened," he told the Bunkered. "But I’m a very, very small cog in this big wheel." “The divisiveness has come from the best players in the world. It hasn’t come from the 40-somethings like myself that are just trying to eke out a living and staying competitive on an opportunity that was presented to us, which would have been crazy to say no to from a business point of view.”
That “opportunity” of course was LIV Golf. McDowell joined the upstart league in 2022 alongside European greats Henrik Stenson, Lee Westwood, Sergio Garcia, and Ian Poulter. For many players, the move offered financial security and a way to prolong their careers. For players like McDowell, it also meant sacrificing his long-held ambition of captaining the Ryder Cup team. A four-time Ryder Cup participant, he had long been seen as a natural successor for a future European captaincy. However, when he and other LIV players relinquished their DP World Tour memberships, they effectively disqualified themselves from any leadership positions within the event. “I would love to be the olive branch that potentially puts some of this back together again,” McDowell remarked in that same discussion, offering his thoughts on the divided landscape of professional golf.
