Johnny Watterson: Hindsight casts a sorry light as Graeme McDowell regrets LIV golf signing

On the face of it, this week’s outbreak of honesty from Irish golfer Graeme McDowell regarding his motivation for joining the LIV golf tour is about buyer’s remorse.

The Northern Irish 2010 US Open winner admitted in an interview with Sports Illustrated that his infamous press conference performance upon signing up with the breakaway LIV tour had not been the greatest of looks.

Four years ago, McDowell was one of the more bullish voices in support of the petro-financed golf roadshow that lured players from the PGA Tour into a lavishly funded golfing LaLa land as Saudi Arabia turbocharged it’s sportswashing enterprise.

“I really feel golf is a force of good in the world and I love using the game of golf as something to help grow around the world and be role models to kids,” he said in 2022 at a press conference ahead of the inaugural LIV Golf event at Centurion Club.

“If Saudi Arabia want to use the game of golf as a way for them to get to where they want to be, I think we’re proud to help them on that journey, using the game of golf and the abilities we have to help grow the sport.”

Cynics at the time saw his sugar-coated words as farcical and self-serving, although sweet to the ears of LIV’s backers, the Saudi Public Investment Fund.

But this week, as LIV faces collapse and the players are scrambling across the decks to the lifeboats, McDowell wishes he had not drunk quite so much of the Saudi Kool-Aid. Hindsight has cast a sorry light.

“I should have just said it for what it was: this is good for my bank account, and I’m getting a runway to play the game of golf for as long as I possibly can.

“I don’t think we could have ever imagined how deep this would go. The hatred. It’s funny, but if we can shift the narrative away from Saudi Arabia and bring some US money and get rid of that narrative ... because that narrative is just nasty.”

McDowell is right in thinking the narrative around LIV was nasty.

[ Graeme McDowell on joining LIV: ‘I should have just said it was good for my bank account’Opens in new window ]

But in his interview, he didn’t explain what generates the nastiness, simply that many people appeared to hate the product, suggesting it was too flashy and glitzy or that the prizes were too “incredible”.

Had he read the introduction to the latest Human Rights Watch report on Saudi Arabia, a more fundamental reason for so much of the nastiness might have become apparent.

“Saudi authorities executed at least 356 people in 2025, setting a new record in the country for the highest number of executions in one year since monitoring began,” it said. “This is the second year in a row that Saudi authorities have set a new execution record, with 345 registered in 2024.”

Complaining that people hated the product with a passion and that many wanted it to fail without connecting to the human rights aspect comes across as callow, as well as plain wrong.

There was visceral opposition to the LIV concept from the beginning, not because of the astronomical sums of money the players were paid but because of the source of the funding.

McDowell seemed exasperated by the negativity and did not see that embarking upon sportswashing, social capital or soft power – call it what you will – might help swell the bank account but does not sit well with many people.

A clever player, to say he appears naive is being kind. It should have been apparent, because in the same press conference where he spoke about growing the game, he faced questions over Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was murdered and dismembered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018.

“We are not politicians. I know you guys hate that expression, but we are really not, unfortunately. We are professional golfers,” he said, as if it vaccinated him against any blowback or criticism of his choice of golf tour or workplace.

McDowell doesn’t regret his decision to join the LIV Tour and questioned whether the nastiness came from traditionalists in golf protecting the game.

It was a “business decision” he said and was fine with it.

As for LIV, the most highly-funded golf dream never to leave the ground, the overwhelming mood is adios to the upstart.

Its legacy will be the negativity it drew, especially on social media, and overwhelming apathy from golf fans.

Despite the regrets, there is little sympathy for those left behind and it is not only wealthy golfers like McDowell scratching their heads.

Tennis, snooker and rugby have been cut adrift by Saudi Arabia. Plans to host the 2035 Rugby World Cup have also been shelved. Bidding for the tournament does not close until October 2026 but the Saudis will not be involved due to the changed PIF priorities.

In addition, the Saudi Arabia Masters snooker event was recently cancelled just two years into a 10-year deal, while the WTA tennis finals will no longer be staged in the country beyond this year’s event.

For McDowell, the LIV experience has, he says, taught him sensitivity, that he cares about what people think of him. And, perhaps, that decisions have consequences.

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