Harrington on LIV Golf star's shock ban: 'You don't throw everyone else under the bus'

Padraig Harrington might be good friends with Graeme McDowell but he thinks the LIV Golf star should "not have thrown everybody else under the bus" following his recent shock suspension on the breakaway Saudi league. 

McDowell, 45, was suspended by LIV Golf for the Greenbrier event last month after testing positive for a substance found in cough medication at LIV Golf Nashville in June. 

He was also fined $125,000. 

Pocket change for a man who has amassed in the region of $9m in tournament earnings on LIV Golf this season alone. 

It marked the first visible evidence of doping control on LIV Golf. 

McDowell said he used a generic, over-the-counter Vicks nasal decongestant before LIV's tournament at Nashville in June because he was having trouble sleeping.

The 2010 US Open champion did not think that to ask for a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE), he said.

McDowell admitted he deeply regretted the oversight and fully accepted the sanctions imposed by LIV.

But in his apologetic statement, he appeared to take issue with the PGA Tour's anti-doping policy.

"LIV's Anti-Doping Policy is designed to be thorough and transparent," wrote McDowell, who plays on Brooks Koepka's Smash GC. 

"Unlike some other tours, LIV enforces these rules rigorously, which made this situation particularly challenging for me."

Related: Graeme McDowell told statement after LIV Golf ban 'pathetic'

While Harrington, 53, is a good friend of McDowell and does consider his LIV Golf ban was "harsh", the three-time major champion did not agree with his response to the outcome. 

"Graeme, friend of mine, and you know, the nasal spray, you always have to be careful with things like that," Harrington told reporters ahead of this week's Irish Open at Royal County Down.

"It's just one of those things. You can't take anything that's over-the-counter at all. So maybe he got thrown out there. Obviously they don't do that on other tours. They don't -- a player gets -- especially an innocuous thing like that, you don't -- thrown out there. 

"Also when something happens like that, you take it on the chin and you don't throw everybody else under the bus."

Harrington would much rather all of the Tours around the world "fully disclosed who was tested and the results, both good and bad". 

"I want -- the more transparency we have, the better. It clears up a lot of things," continued the 15-time European Tour winner who now predominantly plays on the over 50s PGA Tour Champions. 

"Yeah, and I'm a stickler for the rules. We don't have testing on the Champions Tour, but I'm an absolute stickler that we've got to stick to the rules all the time. I will prefer if everything was more transparent in the sense of -- even in terms of how many times they are tested and how they go about it.

"Why keep it -- it doesn't need to be -- maybe they say some law of privacy, but I pretty much know every time I turn up, the first time I turn up -- every time I go back and play a PGA Tour event, I'm getting tested on Tuesday or Wednesday. My random name has come churning back up to the top.

"So look, yeah, a bit more transparency would not be a harm but I also think that maybe wasn't the right moment in time to bring it up. When something goes wrong, you just have to take responsibility for it and not sort of drag everybody else."

McDowell's Smash GC captain Koepka went on to take the spoils in the Greenbrier event he was suspended last month.

John Catlin replaced McDowell in the team that week. 

Smash GC also won the team event. 

McDowell is ranked 27th in the LIV Golf individual standings ahead of this week's final regular season event. 

Smash GC lie fourth in the team standings.

The season-ending Team Championship takes place in Dallas next week.

McDowell chose to terminate his DP World Tour membership at the end of 2023.

The Northern Irishman would not have been able to compete in this week's Irish Open regardless since the event clashes with LIV Golf Chicago.

All LIV Golf players who remain with cards on the DP World Tour have to fulfil obligations of competing in LIV Golf events when there is a clash on the schedule.

That is why the likes of Legion XIII duo Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton are not able to play in the Irish Open or BMW PGA this month. 

On the subject of Rahm, it's something of a controversial one right now.

Hit the link below to learn more. 

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