LIV pro blames ‘top players’ for golf row, looks at Ryder Cup captain

with 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black in hindsight, attention has turned to the 2027 event in Ireland. Need a two time winner captain Luke Donald turn down a third captain, former US Open champion and Northern Ireland professional Graeme McDowell is “putting (his) hat in the ring” for the big job.

McDowell revealed his Ryder Cup captaincy dreams in one new interview with bunkered.

But he also shared his fears that LIV-PGA Tour politics could prevent him from taking the job and blamed the “best players in the world” for “divisive” pro golf.

Graeme McDowell wants to captain Europe’s Ryder Cup in 2027

If he hadn’t joined LIV Golf in 2022McDowell would be an obvious choice for Ryder Cup captain. He is a major champion, having won the 2010 US Open at Pebble Beach, and played on four European Ryder Cup teams from 2008-2014, winning three times.

He also served as vice-captain for the European team in 2018 and 2021.

AND Ryder Cup 2027 at Adare Manor it would seem like a perfect fit. At 46, he is at the right stage of his career to be captain, not for the not-so-young seniors, and as one of the best players from Northern Ireland, he would be a charming choice in that regard.

IN his comments on bunkeredMcDowell admitted he “would love to do it” and laid out some practical reasons he might be a good choice.

“I just saw some comments where Luke (Donald) said maybe he doesn’t want to do it a third time,” McDowell said, referring to the 2027 European captain. “Justin Rose doesn’t because he wants to play. Rory (McIlroy) obviously isn’t even close, is he? He doesn’t want to play captain. So it’s kind of, ‘who’s going to be?’ And why can’t it be me?”

But given the complicating factor of LIV Golf, which we’ll get into shortly, McDowell also expressed concern that pro-golf politics could keep him out of business.

“I think about it, but I really don’t know what to do about it at the moment. I don’t want to be presumptuous putting my hat in the ring. Because it could be something that the powers that be within Ryder Cup Europe are saying, well, that’s just not possible,” McDowell said. “If it’s possible, I’m certainly going to do everything I can to be the best Ryder Cup captain I can be. And obviously, I’d like to sit down with Ryder Cup Europe and, if it’s an opportunity, find out what they would need me to do.”

He went on to say that if he was captain at Adare Manor, it would be the “biggest moment” of his life.

“As we go into the off-season, I’ll certainly make some calls and see where the world stands. It would be the best moment of my life to stand there at Adare Manor as the Ryder Cup captain.”

McDowell calls out top golfers for ‘disruption’

But McDowell’s membership of LIV Golf presents a difficult hurdle to overcome for his Ryder Cup dreams.

There is nothing in the rule book that prevents a LIV Golf player from being a European Ryder Cup captain or player. However, in order to be part of the Ryder Cup or play on the DP World Tour, each LIV professional must maintain their tour membership and pay LIV playing fees.

McDowell revealed that he has paid off his fines and although he is no longer a member of the DP World Tour, that could be changed if it helps him become captain.

But even then, his captaincy is a long shot. Henrik Stenson penciled in as captain of the 2023 European Ryder Cup, but he stepped down from the role after joining LIV Golf.

In his bunkered interview, McDowell said he would be “disappointed” if politics kept him from the captaincy, but admitted he would also understand the outcome.

“I don’t know if it should even be in my mind, as if it’s something that’s not politically possible,” McDowell said. “If that’s the case, I’ll definitely be disappointed, but I’ll definitely understand why. The world is where it is.”

But that doesn’t mean he would accept losing his captaincy for his move to LIV Golf.

Instead, McDowell argued that “the best players in the world” are to blame for the LIV Golf-PGA Tour feud, not older players like him who were trying to extend their careers by going to LIV.

“People will say I don’t deserve it and I’m responsible for a lot of what’s happened. But I’m a very, very small cog in this big wheel,” McDowell said. “The separation has come from the best players in the world. It hasn’t come from 40-year-olds like me who are just trying to make a living and stay competitive in an opportunity that was presented to us that we would be crazy to say no to from a business point of view.”

Ultimately, McDowell suggested that making him captain in 2027 could help heal the pro golf divide.

“I’d like to be the olive branch that potentially brings some of this back together,” he said.

You can read McDowell’s full reviews with bunkered here.

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