Graeme McDowell says he feels “excitement and a little bit of relief” after joining Brooks Koepka’s Smash team on the LIV Golf tour.
McDowell, 44, joined Smash after his two-year deal with the Cleeks ended.
The 2010 US Open winner hopes his one-year contract with Koepka’s team will rejuvenate his career after he finished 42nd in the 48-player tour in 2023.
“It would have been disappointing if this was the end of my play on the LIV tour,” said McDowell.
“Two seasons, or 18 months, it didn’t really feel like a long time, but obviously very excited to be connecting with a team like Smash and playing alongside a guy like Brooks, one of the best players in the world right now.”
McDowell, who knows Koepka’s Northern Irish caddie Ricky Elliott from their time growing up together in Portrush, had to negotiate his way back on to the Saudi Arabian-backed tour after finishing outside the automatic retention places this year having failed to post a top-10 finish.
McDowell still hopes to play on DP World Tour despite ‘pausing’ membership
The former world number four, who said the latter stages of the 2023 season were “stressful”as he weighed up his future, also revealed that he will be “pausing” his DP World Tour membership.
When asked where his new move with LIV leaves him with the DP World Tour, McDowell said: “I won’t take my membership in 2024.
“I maintained my membership this year, getting fined, a lot of sanctions posed against me which I understand. They’re a little heavy perhaps, but LIV have said they’re going to take care of us on that front.
“I haven’t renewed my membership with the DP World Tour so I’m pausing my membership there and we’ll have to see what the future holds.
“I hope the game of golf heals and everyone can get back on the same page again. It’s important for the fans and the game that this fracturing, we figure it out.”
However, McDowell, who estimates his DP World Tour fines total around £1.2m, insists he still hopes to play on that circuit in the future so he can support events such as the Irish Open.
“As we move into the future, I’ll be hoping to repair my relationship, whether that means pay my fines or there’s some relationship merger or common ground we can find,” added the 11-time DP World Tour winner.
“I hope that in the future I can play golf on the DP World Tour again. I feel like I’ve served my time and supported that tour for many years and have few years of exemption left and hope to play again.
“It may never happen, who knows, but as I say I’m hopeful for some resolution to this and we’ll see where the golf world takes us.”
