LIV Golf suspended Graeme McDowell for one tournament after the Northern Irishman was found to have violated the tour’s anti-doping policy during the recent Nashville tournament.
McDowell, 45, the 2010 U.S. Open champion, took an over-the-counter decongestant that contained the banned substance R-methamphetamine, the tour disclosed Sunday in a news release. McDowell, who plays for the Smash GC team, will sit out of this week’s LIV Golf Greenbrier event and face a $125,000 fine, according to the tour. He and his team also were retroactively disqualified from their finish at LIV Golf Nashville.
In a social-media post, McDowell explained that he was “struggling with severe congestion that was affecting my sleep” and took “a generic Vicks nasal decongestant without realizing it might be on the banned list.” He said that he accepts the sanctions and took an apparent dig at the PGA Tour by adding: “Unlike some other tours, LIV enforces these rules vigorously.”
McDowell was the first player to be suspended by the third-year tour for a violation of its anti-doping policy.
His replacement for the tournament that begins Friday at the Greenbrier resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, had not been announced as of Sunday night. READ MORE
Europe revised its qualifying structure for the 2025 Ryder Cup, disclosing a new points system for DP World Tour events and a combined points list to determine the six automatic qualifiers.
One thing missing from the new formula: any mention of LIV Golf members making the biennial team. However, Jon Rahm and other Europeans who have defected to the Saudi-funded rival tour will be eligible for the Ryder Cup as long as they have not relinquished DP World Tour membership, officials have said.
The single list combines the former European (for DP World Tour events) and world (major championships and PGA Tour events) points lists. The revised format emphasizes the European tour’s alliance with the PGA Tour.
The revised points for 2025: major championships (5,000), “signature events”/Players Championship/FedEx Cup playoffs (3,000), DP World Tour Rolex Series (2,000), PGA Tour regular season (2,000), DP World Tour “Back 9” (1,500), DP World Tour “Global Series” (1,000), PGA Tour opposite-field events (1,000).
Guy Kinnings, the CEO of PGA European Tour, which manages the Ryder Cup in Europe, called it “a much cleaner and simpler qualification.”
The year-long process for the 2025 Ryder Cup, to be played September 26-28 at Bethpage Black on New York’s Long Island, will begin late this month at the Betfred British Masters. READ MORE
Andy Lyons, Getty Images
Truist Bank will title sponsor the PGA Tour’s annual stop at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina, in a seven-year deal that GGP’s Ron Green Jr. reported is worth nearly $200 million and will be part of the elevated “signature” series. The 2025 Truist Championship will be played May 8-11 at Philadelphia Cricket Club because Quail Hollow will be the site of the PGA Championship on May 15-18. READ MORE
Scottie Scheffler registered a big payday despite taking the week of the season-ending Wyndham Championship off after having won an Olympic gold medal one week earlier. Scheffler banked an $8 million bonus for having won the Comcast Business Tour Top 10, which rewards the top 10 players in the season-long FedEx Cup regular-season standings. Scheffler sits solidly atop the World Amateur Golf Ranking after his seven victories in 2024 that include the Masters, Players and Olympic titles. Scheffler has totaled a record $28,148,691 in PGA Tour earnings this year.
C.T. Pan will miss qualifying for the FedEx Cup playoffs that begin this week after he withdrew during the second round of the Wyndham Championship, citing a lower-back injury. Pan, 32, a one-time PGA Tour winner from Taiwan, stood 2-under through 27 holes and needed a solo third finish or better in Greensboro, North Carolina, as he ranked 88th in the season standings. The top 70 qualify for the playoffs, which begin this week at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee. READ MORE
Scott Gutschewski showed that he’s still the best golfer in his household, at least for another week.
Gutschewski – a 47-year-old journeyman who has not won in 154 starts, including 17 this year, spanning the past two decades on the PGA Tour – was paired with his two oldest sons during the Korn Ferry Tour’s Pinnacle Bank Championship last week in their hometown of Omaha, Nebraska. The old man can claim bragging rights for at least another week at the Gutschewski home, though that claim might have a fast-approaching expiration date.
Gutschewski, a three-time winner on the PGA Tour’s top developmental circuit, tied for 21st. Sons Luke, a senior at Iowa State, and Trevor, a high school senior and the reigning U.S. Junior champion who has committed to attend Florida, missed the 36-hole cut at Indian Creek.
“More than anything,” Luke said of his dad, “I think he’s taught how to be a professional and how we carry ourselves, handle our practice, handle dealing with people.” READ MORE
Compiled by Steve Harmon