Is Graeme McDowell ready for a TV career? First, he's working some magic at LIV Golf UK

USA Today

2 days ago

Graeme McDowell has just a single top-10 finish on the LIV Golf circuit this year, and he admitted to the British golf site Bunkered that he's seriously considering a dive into the media world if his playing days on the fledgling league are coming to a close.
In fact, after a week on the microphone for Sky Sports and the R&A's 'World Feed' coverage during the 2025 Open Championship at Portrush, McDowell said his appetite has officially been whetted.
"Is there any TV in my future? Potentially, when I'm done playing golf, it was always something that I wanted to dip my toe into to see if I liked it. And last week was a way to have a little chip at it and see if there's anything there," he told Bunkered.
'First and foremost. I mean, I gained a definite appreciation for the skill level involved in being very, very good at it, you know, surrounded by guys like, you know, Ewan Murray and Nick Dougherty and Andrew Cotter and Ken Brown."
McDowell is back on the other side of the mic this week at LIV Golf UK, where he pulled off a masterful shot during Friday's opening round.
After finding some thick stuff on the par-4 11th hole at JCB Golf & Country Club, the 2010 U.S. Open winner showed his creativity around the greens as he pitched a ball up on a slope and brought it back down inches from the cup.
Now 45, McDowell signed a one-year deal with Smash GC, Brooks Koepka's squad, but he's on the outside looking in for next year, in terms of relegation. The Northern Irishman is 32nd in the LIV standings and he needs to get into the top 24 in the next three events to secure a spot for 2026.
Understandably, he's keeping his future options open.
'Say I was done with LIV at the end of this year and I got unceremoniously dumped out, what would I do? Would I go back to the European Tour for a year, take up a year's membership and one of my exemptions there? Or would I make the jump into the media world?' McDowell told Bunkered. 'It would really just depend on how I feel, how I feel my game is, how my health is, what the world would look like from a media point of view."
"I'll continue to talk to some of these media outlets and maybe do a little training on the side, you know, just to get myself ready. I feel like I know a lot of these guys very well and I understand the sport. I'd give it a go for a year or two just to see if I like it.
'I've never had a real job before, so I'm not sure how I'd handle it.'