LIV Golf star Graeme McDowell says majors "need" them after ranking blow

06 November 2023 , 17:04

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Graeme McDowell believes golf's majors 'need' LIV Golf stars (Image: AP)

Graeme McDowell has told golf's four major championships that they "need" to include some of LIV Golf's most in-form players in their fields, with a number of stars set to miss out in 2024.

Last month, LIV Golf were dealt yet another blow in their quest for world ranking points, after the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR) denied their latest bid to become OWGR-recognised. Whilst some - including six-time major winner Phil Mickelson - have brushed off the ranking snub, it remains the largest kink in the LIV armour.

With the majority of the four major championship fields based off position in the world rankings, the breakaway league's representation at Masters, PGA Championship, U.S. Open and Open Championship is set to dwindle.

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Those lucky enough to have already achieved major-winning status have the luxury of exemptions, but for the rest their chances of competing in golf's flagship events as vanishing. The greatest example is LIV's 2023 individual champion Talor Gooch, who won three events and £29 million in prize money.

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Remarkably though, the American is not eligible to compete in any of the four majors, a telling representation of the state of professional golf over the past two years. A number of LIV stars - Gooch included - have called on some sort exemption category for players on the rebel circuit moving forward, and the latest to bang the drum is former U.S. Open champion, McDowell.

"I think the big keys right now are major championship access for players on LIV," McDowell told Mirror Sport after last week's Volvo China Open. In particular, the Northern Irishman pin-pointed Gooch and Joaquin Niemann as two notable absentees, who he believes are two of the top 25 golfers on the planet despite their fall in the rankings.

Talor Gooch is set to play at none of the four majors in 2024 (AP)

"You start looking down the list of guys that are not exempt for the Majors next year. Joaquin Niemann and Talor Gooch are just two off the top of my head," He added. "The Majors need those guys because they are ‘top 25 in the world’ players."

McDowell became one of the headline names to join the LIV setup last summer, which cost him a place on both the PGA Tour and DP World Tour. Whilst it came with its consequences McDowell's Saudi switch has opened new doors, having become a regular on the Asian Tour's International Series over the past year, amid the circuit's links to LIV Golf.

For many on the breakaway circuit, the 14-event campaign has proven to be a nice break away from the week-in-week-out schedules they were facing prior to their move. McDowell though is still keen to keep improving his game further afield, especially with the calibre of player he comes up against over on the LIV setup, and the International Series has proven to be the perfect place to do that.

"You get chewed up quite quickly on LIV because you're playing against some very, very good players every week," he added. "It’s nice to remember that you can still play the game a little bit, and get that confidence and belief in myself that I can still win tournaments.

Graeme McDowell joined LIV Golf last summer (AP)

"That's always been important to me in my career, to have weeks where I feel good about myself, and then compete and kick on. The international series, they're fantastic. And I think they'll continue going from strength to strength." Amid its newfound relationship with the Asian Tour, LIV rewards the International Series' top finisher in the season-long Order of Merit a place on the 48-man breakaway league the following year, and this time around Andy Ogletree is set to earn that prized spot.

Ogletree is no stranger to LIV, having competed in its first-ever event at Centurion in June 2022, before returning throughout the 2023 campaign as a reserve. His maiden outing with the Saudi-backed league was one to forget, as the former U.S. Amateur champion finished dead last at Centurion.

This time around though, McDowell is expecting big things. "I know [Ogletree's] talking to a few teams," the Cleeks GC star revealed. "He has had enough exposure to it this year and the couple of chances that he's had, he's taken it. I think he's going to do great next year. I spent a lot of time with him this week, probably got to know him probably more this week than I have. I like his attitude. He's a hard worker."

Joshua Lees