Graeme

McDowell

Graeme McDowell was born in 1979 in Portrush, Northern Ireland. His background was unusual in a part of the world where religion was a serious matter.

“You can’t really understand what it’s like to live in Northern Ireland and have a Catholic mum and a Protestant dad”, he said in 2015. “Am I Irish? Am I Northern Irish? Am I British? I’ll be honest and say that when I travel around the world I say I’m Irish, because people love the Irish.”

It was Kenny, his father, who introduced McDowell and his brothers to golf at an early age. He played regularly at Rathmore Golf Club and said later: “My dad was very much, ‘If you don’t want to play golf that’s OK, but if you do want to play golf, let’s do it right’.”

The young McDowell worked hard at his game and followed another local rising star, Ricky Elliott, in moving to the US to play college golf. Elliott later became caddie to Brooks Koepka.

McDowell thrived at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and in 2002, he won six out of his 12 college golf events and was presented with the Haskins Award, which goes to the top college golfer in the US. There was no hesitation about turning pro, which he did the same year.

Within a few weeks of becoming a professional, Graeme McDowell had his first top-level win under his belt. He captured the Scandinavian Masters in Sweden by a single stroke from South Africa’s Trevor Immelman.

One immediate benefit was that he was awarded honorary life membership at Royal Portrush Golf Club, now a regular host course of the British Open. This is a classic links golf track, which was far too expensive for the young McDowell to play at when he was growing up.

McDowell won again at the Italian Open in 2004 and in the following year, not surprisingly given his happy days in college golf, he split his time between the European and PGA Tours.

He switched between the tours and played regularly on both sides of the Atlantic, and won twice on the European Tour, including the Scottish Open, in 2008. His most famous year was, by this point, just months away.

Graeme McDowell made the cut in all four Major championships in 2009, including tying for 10th in the PGA Championship. But the early signs in 2010 were not promising, and he failed to make the cut at the Masters, a tournament where he has never thrived.

The 2010 US Open was staged at Pebble Beach, and McDowell started well, taking a two-shot halfway lead following a second round of 68.

He dropped to second on the following day in the face of a tremendous 66 by Dustin Johnson, but went into the final round with high hopes of victory. As always, the final round of the US Open was played on Father’s Day, and Kenny was there to support his son.

McDowell, looking back at that unforgettable day, told the story of how he walked to the first tee with his father, and told him he hadn’t got him a present yet. Kenny said something along the lines of “Go get me that trophy”.

Despite the emotion of the occasion, and the enormous pressure of the final round of a Major, McDowell put together a solid performance as Johnson fell away and with a final round of 82.

McDowell’s closing 74 clinched an overall level-par finish, one shot ahead of France’s Gregory Havret. McDowell was the first Northern Irishman to win the US Open, and only the second European to prevail in it since 1925.

He and his father memorably embraced in triumph on the 18th green, and Kenny’s words to his son were simply: “You’re some kid.”

Graeme McDowell likes to joke with his family that they live in a nice house “because Daddy can putt”. That has never been more true than in the summer of 2010.

His putter was key to that victory at Pebble Beach, and soon it was to clinch more glory under the even more intense pressure of the Ryder Cup.

McDowell, paired with fellow Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy, formed a powerful pairing at Celtic Manor, a course where McDowell had won the Wales Open earlier in his amazing summer.

The Europeans led going into the final day’s singles, but the United States staged a brave comeback, and it all came down to the last match, between McDowell and Hunter Mahan.

McDowell admitted: “It’s the most nervous I’ve ever been in my life. I’d just won the US Open, but I wasn’t half as nervous that day as I was trying to win the Ryder Cup.”

European captain Colin Montgomerie told him he simply had to win his match and, McDowell admitted: “It just focused me.” Left with a 15-foot clutch putt at the 16th, he rolled it into the cup – and a win at the 17th ensured the trophy would stay in Europe.

“2010 was one of those years where everything I looked at went in the hole,” said McDowell, adding wryly: “Unfortunately, not every season is like that.”

Buoyed by his stellar exploits in the summer of 2010, Graeme McDowell finished the year with two more victories. One was at the Valderrama Masters in Spain, and he followed that by beating Tiger Woods in a playoff at the Chevron World Challenge.

That sent McDowell up to No.4 in the world rankings in January 2011, his highest mark so far. Over the next couple of years, his consistent play failed to deliver the second Major his solid swing and excellence with the putter merited.

In 2012, he finished in the top 15 at all four Majors. He recorded his best Masters result in tying for 12th , and went out in the final pairing at the US Open. He had a long putt to get into a playoff, but it went wide and he finished tied for second behind Webb Simpson.

At the next Major, the British Open, McDowell was again in the final group on day four, but he fell away with a 75 as Ernie Els took the Claret Jug. He then tied for 11th as Rory McIlroy  –  the Wee Mac to his G-Mac  –  blazed to his second Major at the PGA Championship.

Graeme McDowell enjoyed a steady life as a pro golfer over the following seasons without threatening to add to his Major tally. He won PGA Tour tournaments in 2013, 2015, and 2019, and featured in victorious Ryder Cup teams in 2012 and 2014.

His overall record in the biennial contest is an impressive 8-5-2, and G-Mac pulled off some stunning results with Wee Mac as the McDowell-McIlroy combination proved to be an irresistible one.

Their relationship was strained after McDowell accepted an offer to join LIV Golf in the summer of 2022. Irish star Shane Lowry was also critical of McDowell’s decision, but G-Mac said a year later: “Myself, Rory and Shane are very close and remain very close and have done through this process.

“We remain in contact, I’m always looking out for them and always pulling for both of them and I think it’s the same from their side as well.”

McDowell insisted in 2024 that he had never doubted his decision to join LIV Golf. “Certainly no regrets,” he said. “I don’t have any personal regrets… I think ultimately we’re going to come out the other side of this with the game of golf in great shape.

“I think in any business there’s always disruption, inevitably there’s going to be disruption. And I think LIV has been a very healthy disruptor to a sport that the business model was slightly wrong and I think things needed to change.”

McDowell finished 10th in his maiden event, the LIV Golf Invitational in London in 2022, and played for Cleeks GC and Smash GC in the first three years of the series.

2010 was not only momentous for Graeme McDowell on the golf course. It was also the year when he met his wife, interior designer Kristin Stape, when she was working on the house he was creating in Florida.

The pair got engaged in 2012 after McDowell proposed on the helipad of the Burj Al Arab Hotel in Dubai. He later admitted he was “about as nervous as I’ve been at any time in my life”.

Their wedding was held in Barbados in 2013 and the couple now live in Lake Nona with their son and daughter.

McDowell has some interesting hobbies and business interests. He is the owner of Nona Blue, a local restaurant, and he collaborated with an Irish distillery to create and launch his own Grey Coast Irish Whiskey brand.

He follows soccer closely and is an avid fan of Manchester United of the EPL. He has also introduced Brooks Koepka to the delights of racehorse ownership.

McDowell is an adept user of social media, and has more than 650,000 followers on X, where he posts regularly.

Graeme McDowell has played for many years with a mixture of clubs, most of them created by two well-known brands, Srixon and Cleveland.

The most recent analysis of his bag showed he was carrying a Srixon Z 785 driver, while his three-wood was the TaylorMade SIM Ti and his five-wood a Callaway Rogue ST Triple Diamond T.

His three-iron was the Srixon ZX5, while the rest of his irons were from the same maker’s Z 745 range. He carried Cleveland RTX wedges, and used an Odyssey White hot #7 putter. McDowell’s chosen ball was the Srixon Z-Star XV.

In the years since he turned professional in 2002, Graeme McDowell has earned just under $20million in prize money on various pro tours. He also collected more than $9million from his first three years as a player with LIV Golf.

McDowell’s net worth has been boosted by his partnerships with various sponsors, including Cleveland and Srixon, as well as his restaurant and whiskey businesses.

He also has a relationship with private travel company Northern Jet, and is an investor in Orreco, an Irish sports technology business.

Graeme McDowell has unquestionably left a mark on the game of golf. His US Open victory, and his contribution to three European Ryder Cup victories are among the most memorable moments in the sport since the turn of the century.

So what advice would he give his younger self – and, by extension, up and coming golfers? He told LIV Golf’s Fairway To Heaven podcast: “I would tell myself to treat it as a marathon, not a sprint.”

As he said, younger players tend to want to rush things – but golf is a sport where youn can get a tiny bit better day by day and eventually it adds up to something great.

He added: “Stay with it, keep knocking on the door, and doing the right things every day – and eventually success will come.”