Graeme McDowell: "It took me a couple of months to deal with what happened"
Graeme McDowell has reflected on the early days of LIV Golf as he insisted he, Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry remain good friends.
Graeme McDowell has admitted it took him a couple of months to deal with what happened during LIV Golf's first event at Centurion Club as he insisted he and Rory McIlroy remain friends.
McDowell, in case you forgot, was involved in a tense press conference back in June when he attempted to justify his decision to join the breakaway tour.
He trumpeted the famous line of "not being a politician" as he claimed he and the likes of Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood et al were simply there to "grow the game of golf".
Related: Nine players who changed their mind about LIV Golf
The Northern Irishman backed Saudi Arabia, despite saying how the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi was a "situation" that was "reprehensible".
McDowell faced an immediate backlash and later told of how he faced death threats. Speaking to the Independent a few months ago, McDowell said he should have just kept his mouth shut.
The questions he was facing were, he said, unanswerable.
Then he backed LIV Golf to really take off once the "smear campaign" was over.
Fast-forward to October 2022 and McDowell is participating in LIV's $50m team championship in Miami.
The team he captains, the Cleeks GC, have advanced to Saturday's semi-finals, where they will face Dustin Johnson's 4 Aces GC side.
McDowell has spoken to Riath Al-Samarrai of the Daily Mail about what happened at Centurion.
He said:
McDowell approached the subject of what happens next:
He continued:
What about his relationships with the likes of McIlroy?
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