The 126th US Open will be Graeme McDowell’s first major for six years, but it is fair to say that the 2010 champion was not overjoyed at the prospect when he set out to make it into this week’s field at Shinnecock Hills.
“I told my wife when I went to qualifying last month I actually didn’t really like Shinnecock and I’m not even sure I wanted to go,” he said. “It was so bad there in 2018 – I missed the cut by one and it was a torture chamber for two days.
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“‘So watch this,’ I told her. ‘I’ll go to Dallas and qualify – guaranteed.’ Sure enough… Now compare that to trying to qualify for the Open in my hometown of Royal Portrush last year. I wanted to get in so badly, I couldn’t see straight. I couldn’t focus and I mean this, I was so worked up I couldn’t even see down the stretch when I had a chance.
Shinnecock in Southampton, New York will be McDowell’s first major in six years – Bill Streicher/Reuters
“The road to Shinnecock didn’t exactly feel like that, but, hey, I am putting it down to some canny reverse psychology on my behalf. I’m delighted to be back after so long. And after everything that’s gone I’m looking forward to it. Just proper hard golf, ugly golf and I’m a grinder and like it like that. It’ll be a purity.”
McDowell, 47, knows he will be damned for whatever he says. Once a darling of the media and a favourite of the fans – the only criticism he ever received was because of his hybrid accent that was part County Antrim, part Alabama – he joined LIV in 2022 and unwisely stepped into the interview area and attempted to make the argument of joining the Saudi-funded circuit for any other factor than playing fewer events for a great deal more money.
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“I don’t regret joining LIV but I do regret feeling the need to try to justify it. I was just pissing into the wind.”
Of all the pros who saw their halo slip all the way down to their spikes, McDowell was perhaps the most unfortunate for those of us who have grown to know and admire him as one of the most personable and honest characters on Tour. Cancel culture came quick and hard. Absolutely, no slack for GMac.
“I feel like I’m past that now, like my skin’s thickened. It hurt me, though. I didn’t like it. I’m a guy that’s always taking my relationship with the media, the fans, the sponsors, everybody in this game very seriously. And I still do to this day. It doesn’t matter what tour I play on. I’m just trying to be a good pro. I’m trying to be a good asset to any tour. I’m doing my job. But the noise did die down. Until recently, of course.”
McDowell was widely criticised, like many other players, when he announced he was joining LIV Golf in 2022 – Adrian Dennis/Getty Images
Two months ago, the Saudi Public Investment Fund announced that, having laid out more than $5bn, it was pulling its funding at the end of the season. Inevitably, the news caused an eruption of schadenfreude. “The volume went back up again, it returned to being very loud. Now, I’m only comparing it to the beginning, but everything came back out of the weeds. All the noise, all the volume, all the Saudi money, all the ‘I told you so’ guys were back on at us.”
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McDowell was once more somewhere near the forefront of the vitriol after railing against the “negativity” and “nastiness” in a recent interview with Sports Illustrated. The problem is that when you have sat up there on the interview stage and waxed lyrical about “growing the game” you are bound to be a target for the gloaters.
Especially when you have amassed nigh on £14m in on-course earnings in the last four years, despite only three top 10s in 60 LIV events. In the previous four years, McDowell earned £3m with seven top 10s including two wins. Therein is surely the indubitable case for defection with nothing else ventured.
“In 2022, when LIV came along, I literally was having phone calls with [US TV networks] CBS and NBC about getting a job with one of them. The end was nigh. I was going through the motions, finishing 80th, 90th, 100th in the FedEx Cup and it just wasn’t really where I wanted to be.
“The sacrifice wasn’t worth the financial return anymore. Being away from my family for 30, 35 weeks a year and your world ranking keeps slipping and you’re just not making the same amount of money. Sacrifice versus return. That’s what this business is all about.
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“And the day that you’re spending 30 weeks away from your family and you’re coming home and you’re missing cuts and you’re not making anything and you look at your wife and your wife looks at you and you go, ‘do we still want to do this?’ Look, I don’t want to play the tour for the fun. It’s not about fun. It’s about competing. And my kids are that age now – nine, 11 and 17 – so they’re in a part of their lives where I want to be with them.”
McDowell, pictured with the Saudi International trophy, only managed three top 10s in 60 LIV events – Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images
LIV allowed him that and he claimed that as well as keeping the home fires burning, it also relit the contestant in his heart. “Clearly there’s been a huge financial element to it, I’m not denying that, but I was 43, my career felt over and it was a long wait until I was 50 and could go on the senior tours. LIV gave me a competitive runway, it extended my career and gave me a new lease of life on a lot of levels. If LIV hadn’t come along, maybe I’d be in a booth somewhere. Maybe I’d be Kevin Kisner [the former Tour winner who is now lead analyst for NBC]. But perhaps not as funny.”
There is still time for all that, as McDowell acknowledges. “By the end of this chapter, whenever it ends, I’ll be a fairly well-rounded individual. I’ve seen pretty much everything there is to see in this game.”
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McDowell is hopeful there is more to come with LIV, as they desperately seek investors before September’s survival deadline. “LIV is going to have to reinvent what they’re doing to streamline, to focus on the good things we do out here and double down on the markets where we’re doing extremely well – and maybe stay away from the US a little bit because that market doesn’t really seem to be working, whether they’re poisoned against us or not.
“You can mention ‘opulence’ if you like, but plainly, there’s been too much fat, some s— that needs trimming. It’s been too much but has it all been bad? I don’t think anyone could have visualised the level of discord that was created, but if you look at the flip side, it’s been good for business. The PGA Tour players are making more money than they ever did. Everyone’s making more money. Is it sustainable? Probably not, because everyone’s having to reinvent what they’re doing. Obviously for LIV, if you reduce purses, are you going to retain your players? There’s a lot of questions to be answered and they’re for someone more intelligent than me to answer.”
McDowell readily admits that he has sought a contingency and has “reopened the conversation with the DP World Tour”.
“I still have some status and I can rejoin. They’ve been great. We’ve agreed to talk again in November and see where the game is. We’ll know where LIV is by then. Who knows what will happen?”
McDowell won the Ryder Cup with Europe in 2010, beating the US by one point – Adrian Dennis/Getty Images
He still harbours a dream of returning to the Ryder Cup fold, but recognises rules need to be altered for that to be a possibility. For now, it is all about Shinnecock, that torture chamber on Long Island where in the five previous US Opens staged, only three players have broken par over the entire tournament.
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“It’s tough, it’s brutal, it’ll be a grind, but I’m back in the major I won, I’ve earned my place and I’m excited. My boy is coming and at nine has never seen me play in a major before.
“He’s a golf nut, and I was starting to think that I was never going to be able to show him that. Yeah, he’s watched me winning at Pebble [Beach] on YouTube and making the putt in the Ryder Cup that year [which ensured Europe’s win], but it doesn’t seem real to him. He thinks it’s AI. But no, Dad was really good at this.”
Indeed, he was. It is great to have him back.
McIlroy to miss cut and who will win US Open: our predictions
Winner: Scottie Scheffler
Gerald Herbert/AP
He has “only” won once so far this year, which has inspired certain experts to ask what is wrong. But the fact that he has racked up three seconds and a third in his last four events suggests not much at all. Can become the seventh player in history to complete the career grand slam.
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Top British player: Justin Rose
Bill Streicher/Reuters
At 45, Rose can become the oldest player ever to record three successive top 10s in the majors. But knowing the Englishman that will be the very least of ambition. He is playing well with his new McLaren irons and comes alive in the tougher conditions.
Dark horse: Patrick Reed
Frank Franklin II/AP
It seems ridiculous to refer to a former Masters champion and a player who is leading the DP World Tour order of merit as “a dark horse”. But there he is at 50-1 on the betting lists. He has camped out here the last few weeks and as one of the best chippers in the game will be suited to this place.
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Big name to miss the cut: Rory McIlroy
David J. Phillip/AP
Had a shocker here in 2018 and although he has become more of a complete player since then, he is struggling with his driver. Yes, this is a second-shot course, but in the winds the players will still need to be accurate. Sincerely hope I am wrong, but I fear that McIlroy might struggle in these conditions.
Three key holes
7th (Redan). 187 yards, par 3
The USGA “lost” this green in 2004. Pros were having to aim at the bunkers as it was only from the sand where they could hold the green. It is based on the 15th at North Berwick, probably the most copied hole in golf. Like all “Redans” it features a narrow, elevated green angled diagonally away from the tee.
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11th (Hill Head). 157 yards, par 3
Lee Trevino called this hole “the shortest par five in golf” and it is easy to see what he meant. The tee shot is uphill to a small green that slopes away on both sides. Too far and the player scoots down a steep bank, too short and there is a deep bunker. Hellish.
16th (Shinnecock). 614 yards, par 5
If it is the prevailing wind, then the course’s eponymous hole demands three precise shots. The problem is there are approximately 20 bunkers protecting the meandering fairway and then 10 bunkers surround a narrow elevated green. The players will be thinking birdie, but many will be relieved simply to escape with a par.
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