Graeme McDowell is currently faced with the scenario where he is a past major champion that is no longer exempt to play in golf’s four biggest tournaments.
The Northern Irishman, who won the US Open in 2010, is long past his 10-year exemption, while his move to LIV Golf has cut off any chance of qualifying via the world rankings.
A week after his good pal Justin Rose earned his place at the Masters by winning at Pebble Beach, McDowell is teeing at the Oman event of the International Series on the Asian Tour. And he told Irish Golfer that, while he still wants to play in the majors, he still has much to play for in 2023.
“Of course, I’d love to be in the major championships,” he said. “[But] I am very happy with my current schedule. I have plenty of golf to play and from a travel point of view, it’s great. I’ll see my family a lot.
“I’m not in any major championships but I feel like I have 14 majors to play in. The 14 LIV events are fairly major from a financial point of view so there’s lots to play for.”
The World No 392 added: “I very rarely look at the world rankings now. It’s something that was very important to me as a younger player and a lot is being talked about with the rankings at the moment.
“You’re not going to tell me Dustin Johnson is the 48th ranked player in the world, he’s not the 48th best player. Brooks Koepka is a top 20 in the world max, he’s a top 10 player in the world.
“It’s irrelevant to me where I’m ranked in the world. It doesn’t affect where I am in the world of golf right now, I’m just trying to compete the best I can and keep my head down and not make any headlines.”
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LIV Golf’s attempt to fast-track their Official World Golf Ranking application by joining forces with the MENA Tour fell flat as the OWGR board still requires certain criteria to be met.
Since his last appearance on the PGA Tour at last year’s Mexico Open, McDowell is clinging on to his position in the top 400 of the world rankings having only played four events that offer OWGR points since.
But, as he points out, he has plenty of money to play for. Each individual tournament of LIV’s inaugural season dished out $25 million in prize money and cashing just one $4 million winner’s cheque would be enough to cushion the blow of missing out on golf’s biggest tournaments.
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