{"id":779196,"date":"2026-05-07T08:12:22","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T08:12:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/779196\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T08:12:22","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T08:12:22","slug":"what-graeme-mcdowell-regrets-after-bolting-for-liv-golf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/779196\/","title":{"rendered":"What Graeme McDowell regrets after bolting for LIV Golf"},"content":{"rendered":"

Graeme McDowell doesn\u2019t regret taking the money \u2014\u00a0he just wishes he\u2019d admitted it.<\/p>\n

McDowell, the 2010 U.S. Open champ, is one of many LIV Golf transplants who claimed the decision to jump from the PGA Tour to LIV Golf was about \u201cgrowing the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

The refrain was mocked by many given the absurd guaranteed contracts that LIV \u2014\u00a0backed by Saudi Arabia\u2019s Public Investment Fund (PIF) \u2014 were giving out.<\/p>\n

\"GraemeGraeme McDowell of Northern Ireland tees off during the second round of the Link Hong Kong Open at Hong Kogn Golf Club on October 31, 2025 in Hong Kong, China. Getty Images<\/p>\n

McDowell told Sports Illustrated<\/a> he was contemplating retirement in 2022 before being approached by LIV \u2014\u00a0and then was in the first wave of players to bolt to the rebel league.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was ready to jump ship and go get a real job,\u201d the Northern Irishman told the magazine Tuesday. \u201cAnd then these guys came along and said, \u2018Hey, we\u2019re going to do this tour. Do you want to come play?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cI love playing. I love competing. I regret a few things I said in the beginning, stuff like growing the game. I should have just said it for what it was: this is good for my bank account, and I\u2019m getting a runway to play the game of golf for as long as I possibly can.\u201d<\/p>\n

McDowell, 46, might be searching for a \u201creal job\u201d again soon. PIF is pulling their financial backing of LIV Golf<\/a> after this season and the tour is looking for new ways to finance itself.<\/p>\n

Much of the criticism that followed players who left for LIV was focused on the source of the money, given Saudi Arabia\u2019s human rights violations. <\/p>\n

It led to death threats for McDowell and subjected his family to online abuse. He does admit that LIV and its players could have done things a little differently. <\/p>\n

\"GraemeGraeme McDowell of Smash GC tees off at the ninth hole on day three of LIV Golf Virginia at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club on June 08, 2025 in Gainesville, Virginia. Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the beginning, no doubt, there was a lot of excess,\u201d said McDowell ahead of LIV Golf Virginia, where he had his best LIV finish with a tie for second last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was maybe a little too flashy on some levels. The purse prizes are incredible. I could never imagine. I remember going to WGCs [World Golf Championship events] when I was in my late 20s, early 30s, thinking these are the most unbelievable things I\u2019ve ever heard of, playing for $7 million. It\u2019s insane. And then we\u2019re playing for $20 million out here. The complacency that can come with that is just embarrassing. You obviously adjust to your surroundings and get on with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

McDowell said he hopes that PIF pulling out could alter the negativity associated with the tour, if it surives.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think we could have ever imagined how deep this would go,\u201d McDowell said. \u201cThe hatred. It\u2019s funny, but if we can shift the narrative away from Saudi Arabia and bring some U.S. money and get rid of that narrative \u2026 because that narrative is just nasty.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Graeme McDowell doesn\u2019t regret taking the money \u2014\u00a0he just wishes he\u2019d admitted it. McDowell, the 2010 U.S. Open…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":779197,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[47],"tags":[1430,143634,19413,1456,62,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-779196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-graeme-mcdowell","tag-liv-golf","tag-pga-tour","tag-sports","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116532291792923657","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=779196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779196\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/779197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=779196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=779196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=779196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}