The return of several golfers to the DP World Tour after making the switch to LIV highlights a shift in the relationship between the tours. <\/p>\n
To make a successful return the players had to pay their fines and agree to play in a minimum of six events, two of which are dictated by the DP World Tour and McDowell pointed to these examples as encouraging for the direction of travel.<\/p>\n
“We’ve seen guys come back to play events, and that feels like a compromise,” the 46-year-old said.<\/p>\n
“It shows there’s a way forward. If others can return, then perhaps there’s a path for me too.”<\/p>\n
The 46-year-old represented Europe in four Ryder Cups as a player, most memorably clinching the winning point at Celtic Manor in 2010, and twice as a vice-captain in 2018 and 2021.<\/p>\n
His move to golf’s breakaway tour four years ago not only strained his ties with the former European Tour but also raised questions about Ryder Cup eligibility – which is only open to DP World Tour members. <\/p>\n
McDowell concedes the controversy has impacted his chances of being involved again as a captain or vice-captain even though he harbours ambitions of doing so.<\/p>\n
“Even if I was able to take my membership, I would still fall short of the rules that I haven’t been a continuing member of the DP World Tour now for the last three years, so I do fall short of that regulation, which I understand,” he added.<\/p>\n
“The rule has been around for a long time and that would have to change to open up that door for me to have the opportunity, but I obviously would be open to do what I could to be at Adare Manor next year. <\/p>\n
“I understand bringing LIV players creates negative narratives that we don’t want and need there, but if the door is open I would do anything to support the team.<\/p>\n
“People will say that I don’t deserve to be there. I’ve made my bed, I should sleep in it, which is true – but I feel fortunate to have this opportunity to be out here on LIV competing, obviously for a lot of money against some good players on a good schedule.<\/p>\n
“I’m happy with what I’m doing and I understand the reasons why the Ryder Cup may not happen in any shape or form. I’ve made my peace with that a little bit.<\/p>\n
“Of course I am disappointed, we are where we are. It’s just politically, I can’t believe four years later we’re still here, we’re still at such a contentious point when for the fans at home we need to bring the game back together in some way, shape or form. I think it’s the right thing for the game.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The return of several golfers to the DP World Tour after making the switch to LIV highlights a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":558200,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[427,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-558199","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-golf","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=558199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558199\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/558200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=558199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=558199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=558199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}