© Geoff Burke-Imagn Images
LIV Golf‘s Graeme McDowell, a members of the Smash GC team captained by former FSU golfer Brooks Koepka, won the 2010 U.S. Open and was ranked as high as 4th in the world (according to OWGR points) back in 2011. He has been a member of the European Ryder Cup team four times and believed he was next in line for a captaincy but recent comments suggest that won’t be the case.
In a recent interview with Ben Parsons of Bunkered, Graeme McDowell spoke his decision to leave the PGA Tour and European golf in favor of the LIV Golf Tour. That led to some uncertainty as McDowell finished the 2025 LIV season in the ‘Open Zone’ and Smash GC captain Brooks Koepka could have made the decision to replace Graeme but he has committed to McDowell and renewed his team contract for the upcoming season.
Graeme McDowell On The Ryder Cup Captaincy, LIV Golf, And More
Prior to Luke Donald’s back-to-back Ryder Cup captaincy win at Bethpage Black, Graeme McDowell believed he was next up for the captaincy when it was announced the 2027 Ryder Cup would be held at Adare Manor in Limerick. Graeme was born in Portrush, County Antrim in Northern Ireland and as a 4x European competitor he believed he was the logical choice.
Then Graeme made the decision to leave for LIV Golf and at this moment in time it seems as if Luke Donald will get to decide if he wants to run it back for a third captaincy. Speaking about the captaincy, Graeme told Bunkered he would be “disappointed” if he wasn’t selected as captain due to politics. He said:
“It’s on my mind, but being honest with you, I don’t know what to do about it. I don’t know whether it should be on my mind at all, as in if it’s something that’s not possible politically. If that’s the case, clearly I’ll be disappointed, but I’ll obviously understand why. The world is where it is. People will say I’ll get what I deserve, which, you know, I’m not really sure I totally agree with that, right?
All of that is perfectly reasonable. If the PGA Tour/DP World Tour schism with LIV Golf stop him from being captain that would be a shame. But what Graeme McDowell said next seems to have really taken off on social media. He talked about being able to “eke out” a living…
“The divisiveness has come from the best players in the world. It hasn’t came 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.”
Career Earnings Breakdown
For a guy who is “just trying to eke out a living” he is doing pretty, pretty well.
In 271 events/PGA Tour stars, Graeme earned $19,099,776 which included a massive payday for his 2010 U.S. Open win. That equates to earning $70,478 per event.
In 48 LIV Golf events with limited fields, McDowell has earned $14,057,737 or $292,869 per start. That’s certainly more than being able to ‘eke out a living’ playing golf when you are earning nearly 1/3 of a million dollars every tournament. And that doesn’t even include his rumored signing bonus which anonymous internet sources cite anywhere from $5M to $40M, according to Google.
Those comments from Graeme caught like wildfire on X (previously Twitter) and riled up the golf community. In response to the interview from Bunkered, one person wrote “Correction: the tension arose because some players ditched their tour, the Ryder Cup, everything, for money. Let’s be plain.”
Another person added “This is why people hate LIV. ‘Eke out a living’ has to be the most tone deaf comment full of them from McDowell.” To be clear, I do not hate LIV. Some of my favorite golfers are on that tour. But I agree that this was a completely tone deaf comment.