Graeme McDowell admits that joining LIV Golf has not come without its challenges, the Northern Irishman revealing ahead of this week’s event at Valderrama that the controversy surrounding his move to the breakaway circuit was something that he “struggled with for months”.
The former US Open champion and 11-time winner on the DP World Tour was one of the first players to come under fire when he joined LIV Golf last year, many taking to social media to criticise the Ulsterman when he said he was “proud” to help Saudi Arabia” on their current “journey”.
In a tense press conference last year, McDowell said the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi was "reprehensible". However, it didn’t stop the Portrush golfer receiving abuse online – and that did leave an impact.
“It was a bumpy start, it was difficult for us personally, especially being a British-Irish player in London and all the controversy and scrutiny we were under,” he said.
“It was difficult. I felt like I struggled with it for months and it took me a while to settle in.”
McDowell might not receive a great deal of sympathy from those who fiercely oppose LIV Golf, especially given the large sums of money the players are competing for.
Nevertheless, McDowell admits the criticism has hurt, although the 43-year-old is starting to look ahead with more optimism, and is even hoping that he’ll still be able to play a part in the Ryder Cup further down the line.
“As we sit here now, 12 months later, with the belief level and the product and spending 12 months around these players and the people who make LIV tick, I think we feel so much more comfortable and confident about the product,” he explained.
“It was a start-up and we didn’t really know where it was going to go. Was it going to be a one-and-done? With all the noise and the craziness going on we had no idea what was going to happen.
“We knew the PIF and how much belief Yasir [Al-Rumayyan, LIV Golf chairman] and his team had in the game of golf and how much they love the game of golf and that was the comfort I took.
“A year later, it feels like we have something special and we can continue to grow.”
As for McDowell’s Ryder Cup future, despite admitting that he’s “not playing well enough” to be considered for Rome this year, he hasn’t given up hope of making it back into the fold.
“Do I believe I can play in the future? Yes, I believe I’m good enough to be out there,” added McDowell, who currently sits 38th in the LIV Golf standings.
“Would I like to be in Rome to help Luke Donald out? Of course I would love to be there, I love everything there is about the European Ryder Cup team.”
McDowell also believes LIV golfers should be considered for the biennial contest if they’re playing well enough.
“Do I think there are any players on LIV good enough to play on the European Ryder Cup team? Yes, I do think there are a couple of guys and we’ll have to see how it all shakes out.”
