"Very small cog in this big wheel" - Graeme McDowell blames 'best players' in the world for LIV Golf–PGA Tour divide

Graeme McDowell has said that the LIV Golf-PGA Tour divide had come from the top players in the game, not from him. He added that he was simply trying to seek better financial opportunities as a professional in his 40s.

Graeme McDowell was in Hong Kong last week for the Link Hong Kong Open. He is currently active on LIV Golf and was among the first players to join the Saudi-backed circuit in 2022.

In a recent interview with Bunkered, the 46-year-old Northern Irishman expressed his desire to become the European Ryder Cup skipper. However, he insisted that he wasn't a major force behind the division in professional golf despite some blaming him for it.

"People will say I don’t deserve it and I’m responsible for a lot of what’s happened," he said. "But I’m a very, very small cog in this big wheel."

"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," he added.

Graeme McDowell further spoke about his Ryder Cup captaincy chances in detail.

"I only saw a couple of comments where Luke said maybe he doesn't want to do it a third time," he continued. "Justin Rose doesn’t want it because he wants to play. Rory is obviously not even close, right? He doesn’t want to be playing captain. So it’s kind of like, 'who's it going to be?' And why couldn’t it be me?"

"I would love to be the olive branch that potentially puts some of this back together again," he added.

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Graeme McDowell 'cleared' his DP World Tour dues but won't join the membership

The US Open 2010 champion has revealed that he had paid his dues of over £1 million to the DP World Tour but was unlikely to join the circuit anytime soon.

"I've cleared my fines," he said via the aforementioned source. "I'm not a European Tour member simply because I didn’t want to incur any more fines. I didn’t feel like I would play enough golf to merit taking a membership. But whatever it took, I would do, aside from giving up my LIV status. Clearly I want a tour to play on and I’m looking forward to playing in ’26."

"But beyond that, anything they need me to do, I would do. LIV will be finished by August. Do I play more in Europe to support the players, to be there, to communicate? Of course. I'd be more than happy to do that.”

Speaking of LIV Golf, Graeme McDowell had an average year and finished 34th in the season standings. The runner-up finish at Virginia was his only top 10 finish in 2025. The four-time PGA Tour champion competed at the Link Hong Kong Open this week but missed the cut by one stroke.