Graeme McDowell hopeful of major change for LIV golfers

Graeme McDowell is hopeful that the majors will soon change their exemption criteria to give LIV Golf players a direct pathway to the sport’s biggest events.

The former US Open champion has not played in a major since teeing it up in the breakaway inaugural event at the Centurion Club near London in the summer of 2022.

McDowell has earned over $9million in prize money in his 34 LIV starts since, but has been left “horrified” by his Official World Golf Ranking which – at the time of writing – has plummeted to 1248.

“It’s the nature of the beast right now,” McDowell told bunkered.co.uk. “I’d give myself a B for the year. Maybe a B-minus. It’s been an okay year, obviously a lot of room for improvements. But I think I’m probably better than 1200th in the world.”

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LIV’s ongoing plight without OWGR accreditation means that even Dustin Johnson has fallen outside the top 500 in the rankings.

Joaquin Niemann earned a special discretionary pick for this year’s Masters, but his invitation by the Green Jackets was more about his Australian Open victory on the DP World Tour than any success on the LIV circuit.

Seven LIV defectors were invited to play in this year’s PGA Championship at Valhalla, while the USGA have been considering pathways for players to qualify for the US Open based on their LIV performances.

But without direct changes to the exemption criteria of the four major governing bodies, more LIV players will continue missing out on the biggest events of the season.

McDowell, however, is hopeful that will change in 2025.

“It’s disappointing not to have more access to the majors,” the 45-year-old stressed. “LIV are working really hard behind the scenes to continue to get us access to the major events which I believe we deserve access to them.

“Whether that be winners out here or top five in the money list, not already exempt. I’m hoping they’re going to come to us with some pretty good news. Fingers crossed. 

“If you win on the PGA Tour you get exempt for various majors. You’re telling me a win out here is not similar… people will believe it is not of similar stature but I believe it is, if not better than some PGA Tour events.  

“There’s a lot of naysayers out there. I get it, but LIV is an incredibly competitive tour with a lot of high level players. World rankings don’t reflect that anymore because our world rankings are just getting pummelled because we’re not getting any credit for what we’re doing.

“We are where we are. We knew we were going to potentially be in a situation like this. It’s not sour grapes. I guess what I’m saying is the view from the inside. I understand where we’re at is disappointing. I’m happy with what I’m doing but I’d like access to a few more events, perhaps.”

As well as hindering LIV’s current crop, the lack of guaranteed major access continues to be a bone of contention for prospective targets joining the league.

bunkered.co.uk first revealed on Friday that rising star Frederik Kjettrup, a three-time winner on the PGA Tour Americas circuit, was joining Martin Kaymer’s Cleeks GC team next season. 

Inevitably, the conversation about major access arose before the 24-year-old Dane Kjettrup signed his multi-year LIV contract.

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“I told Frederik quite honestly and things that some people don’t like to hear, we don’t know yet if there’s going to be a pathway to the majors,” Kaymer said. “This is up to you if you want to take that risk.

“What I’ve heard from the league is that it looks pretty good. Hopefully next year we have some kind of way of qualifying for majors. We cannot say for sure this will happen. But he was fine with that.”

McDowell, meanwhile, will remain on LIV in 2025 as part of Brooks Koepka’s Smash GC team.

The Northern Irishman says his “mediocre” form since joining the league has partly been down to the “noise and distraction” caused by his move, as well as adjusting to a 54-hole format that demands players to be aggressive from the first tee.

“The great thing is I’m looking into 2025 thinking I can get better,” he said. “My overall LIV performance is an F but I feel like I can compete to win two or three times next year. 

“I’m happy where I’m at right now. It’s taken me a couple years to be comfortable in my own skin again. The noise was pretty deafening in the beginning. It was difficult to watch what I felt like was my reputation that was built up over 20 years feel like it was destroyed overnight – and unfairly so.

“There’s been a lot of disruption in the game. It’s going to cause some short term pain but I think it’s long term gain for the game of golf.”

Ben Parsons joined bunkered as a Content Producer in 2023 and is the man to come to for all of the latest news, across both the professional and amateur games. Formerly of The Mirror and Press Association, he is a member at Halifax Golf Club and is a long-suffering fan of both Manchester United and the Wales rugby team.