'It means a lot more to me today than it did 10 years ago': Graeme McDowell relishing US Open return
RETURN OF THE MCDOWELL: Graeme McDowell is looking forward to playing at the US Open again. Pic: ©INPHO/Morgan Treacy
As much as he believed he could be on this stage again, Graeme McDowell admitted that it was impossible to avoid doubt.
Six years removed from his last major championship appearance, the 2010 US Open champ is again in position to chase golf’s biggest hardware.
The golfer from Northern Ireland who joined the LIV Golf League in 2022 made it through a 36-hole final qualifier on May 18 in Dallas to secure his spot this week in the 126th US Open at Shinnecock Hills.
“I think it means a lot more to me today than it did 10 years ago,” McDowell, 46, said following a practice round at Shinnecock Hills.
“When you haven’t tasted something in a while, there’s one dial. At a point in my career, these were automatic and maybe there was a slight level of complacency. You don’t appreciate what you are doing in the moment.
“And obviously as you get older, you reflect a bit longer. You think to yourself, am I ever going to bring my 9-year-old son (Wills) to see me doing something like this again? I’m just going to have to tell them about it. Show them the trophy. You feel the clock ticking, the sounds of times, kind of starting to disappear. Will I ever do this again?”
McDowell is doing this again, and he’s here with his son to soak up the experience, calling it a “Guys week” in the Hamptons as his wife and daughter are back home in Florida.
The qualifying experience is something McDowell has partaken in each of the past several years without success. The irony is he was fine either way if he made it back to the US Open. Last year’s attempt to get into the Open Championship was another matter.
He dearly wanted to make the field last year in his home town of Portrush and couldn’t finish the job in the 36-hole qualifier at Royal Cinque Ports.
“It was funny, we had a little reverse psychology going in in the family. I told the wife (Kristin), that I didn’t really like Shinnecock the last time I was here (a missed cut in 2018), so I wasn't sure I wanted to play this year anyway, so I said; 'Watch this, we'll qualify.'
"Sure enough, in direct contrast to Portrush last year. Sport, right? Where I had nine holes and I had it by the bollocks and I didn't do it because I wanted it a little bit too bad.”
McDowell questioned whether he even wanted to put him through the process of qualifying. “It always felt like a step too far, and I thought I’m just going to show up and play and not put myself through this ringer every year.
“But then it rolls around and the old pro comes back and I’m like; 'Well, we’re going to go get ready, go out there and do it properly.' And it’s amazing to come back after six years. The appreciation level is elevated this week, I would say.”
In LIV Golf’s nine events this season, McDowell has a single top-10 finish, a tie for eighth, at the Hong Kong event. He has two other top-20s and is 38th the individual standings, needing to finish among the top 34 in order to assure a place in the league in 2027.
That’s if there is a league.
Like just about all of the other players, McDowell was stunned to learn during the week of the Mexico City tournament in April of reports that the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia would end its funding of the league following this season.
The conjecture turned to reality a few weeks later when the PIF – Saudi’s sovereign wealth fund – announced that it was done after this year, leaving the league in limbo.
McDowell acknowledged the difficulty ahead and wondered if no longer being associated with Saudi Arabia negativity might be a benefit.
“Maybe we can get rid of that and focus on LIV as a viable golfing product,” he said.
That is the challenge for CEO Scott O’Neil, who has been seeking investment and sponsorship believed to be north of $300 million in order to save LIV Golf.
“Potentially he's been given some leash now to be able to go and. . . I think we all knew that we were going to have to stand on our own two feet at some point to be able to make this into a legitimate business,” McDowell said.
“When you've kind of got the type of cash that we had in the beginning for a startup company, it was a little crazy and maybe not very real. It's kind of like we're turning 18 now. I'm going to into the real world. We got to fend for ourselves a little bit. We try to make this into legit business.”
For now, McDowell is focused on the immediate and that is having a good week at the US Open.
“I'm here to compete, but I'm also here to enjoy the walk with my son,” he said. “I'm excited about the week. It's almost here. It's a vicious golf course, very, very difficult. It’s definitely going to be a test of patience. And there's going to come a point at some point this week, I'm going to think to myself, why did I bother going to Dallas (to qualify)? But I'm ready for that, you know?”
McDowell tees off at 7:52 a.m. ET (12:52 PM IST) on Thursday with Keith Mitchell and Patrick Rodgers.
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