LIV Golf’s Graeme McDowell replacement revealed

LIV Golf were forced to find a late replacement for Graeme McDowell after it was revealed he had violated anti-doping rules. 

McDowell is the first player to fall foul of LIV’s anti-doping policy and will serve his one-tournament suspension at this week’s $25million showpiece in West Virginia.

The 2010 US Open champion tested positive for R-methamphetamine, a banned substance which he says was used in a nasal spray for congestion.

“Ahead of LIV Nashville, I was struggling with severe congestion that was affecting my sleep,” McDowell wrote in a statement on X. “In an effort to manage it, I used a generic Vick’s nasal decongestant without realising it might be on the banned list.”

• Graeme McDowell banned by LIV Golf over doping breach

• Matt Kuchar makes bizarre decision to stop PGA Tour finish

While he will be able to return next month in Chicago, McDowell will lose the $128,000 he won in Nashville and has also been slapped with a $125,000 fine.

Brooks Koepka’s Smash GC team were therefore one player light heading to Greenbrier this week after the shock news emerged on Sunday evening.

But bunkered.co.uk has since learned that McDowell will be replaced in the field by the American journeyman John Catlin.

Catlin has been playing as an injury substitute for his childhood friend Bryson DeChambeau’s Crushers GC team of late.

• Lydia Ko wins gold to complete Olympic medal slam

• How Open star got John Daly’s seal of approval

His highest finish was a T7 in Nashville and he has made over $1million in prize money across his four starts.

It had looked as if Catlin’s lucrative LIV jaunt might be over – at least temporarily – as Crushers man Charles Howell III returns from a lengthy injury layoff this week for a first start since May.

But the 33-year-old, who is in pole position to lock up a full-time spot on LIV next season by topping the Asian Tour’s International Series, will now have another chance to impress on the Saudi-backed breakaway league.

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.