In going wire-to-wire at Fanling last week, where he opened with a course record 60 and smashed the tournament scoring record en route to a seven-shot win, McKibbin earned a Masters debut and his third appearance in The Open.
The new world number 85 remains a member of the DP World Tour and a potential candidate for Ryder Cup selection at Adare Manor in 2027 as he joins Bethpage hero Shane Lowry and Masters champion Rory McIlroy in this week’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.
The first of the DP World Tour Playoffs offers McKibbin the chance to make it to the season-ending DP World Tour Championship for the third year running and potentially break into the world’s top 50.
With the Masters and The Open already on his schedule and a spot in the 2026 PGA Championship at Aronimink all but sewn up as a member of the world’s top 100, McKibbin could make the US Open at Shinnecock Hills by being in the top three on LIV Golf early next summer or by breaking into the world’s top 60.
As for McDowell (46), who didn’t arrive in Hong Kong until the eve of the event due to a golf day and missed the cut by a shot, the Majors and the 2027 Ryder Cup captaincy remain well out of reach for now.
Despite that, he’s taken every opportunity to express his desire to be involved at Adare Manor.
His aspirations are pie in the sky right now because a rule introduced by the DP World Tour in 2018 says that players cannot be a captain or vice-captain for Europe if they have relinquished their membership in any given season.
By playing LIV events without a conflicting event release, McDowell accrued fines of over £1m stg.
He has paid them off, but to avoid further penalties, he has relinquished his DP World Tour membership.
Still, he continues to send out smoke signals, saying he’d love to be considered as a potential captain.
“It’s on my mind, but being honest with you, I don’t know what to do about it,” McDowell told bunkered.co.uk in Hong Kong.
“I don’t know whether it should be on my mind at all, as in, if it’s something that’s not possible politically. If that’s the case, clearly I’ll be disappointed, but I’ll obviously understand why.
“The world is where it is. People will say I’ll get what I deserve, which I’m not really sure I totally agree with that, right?
“People will say I don’t deserve it, and I’m responsible for a lot of what’s happened. But I’m a very, very small cog in this big wheel.”
McDowell somewhat disingenuously claims that the “divisiveness” created by LIV has come from “the best players in the world” and not “the 40-somethings like myself that are just trying to eke out a living…”
The amount he was paid to sign up for LIV remains undisclosed,, although figures of between $20–$40 million have been mentioned in reports.
He went on to say the offer “would have been crazy to say no to from a business point of view”, but whether that will fly with the powers at Wentworth is something of a stretch, even if Luke Donald opts against a third stint as skipper and the next most obvious candidate, Justin Rose, feels capable of playing again.
“So it’s kind of like, ‘who’s it going to be?’ And why couldn’t it be me?” McDowell mused.“I would love to be the olive branch that potentially puts some of this back together again.”
The damage LIV Golf caused the DP World Tour remains a huge stumbling block, barring some as-yet-unforeseen ‘rapprochement’ between the Saudi-funded circuit and Wentworth.
In July 2019, McDowell was considered a potential captaincy candidate when Adare was awarded the matches, initially slated for 2026.
He readily admits that it would be “presumptuous” to put his hat in the ring but still plans to make some calls and see where the world stands.”
“It would be the greatest moment of my life to stand there at Adare Manor as the Ryder Cup captain,” he said. “I’d love to do it. It’d be special.”
It would be a seismic about-turn for the DP World Tour, but while things do change, LIV Golf remains an unsanctioned tour by the Official World Golf Rankings.
Yesterday, LIV announced that players participating in its annual Promotions Event, scheduled for Black Diamond Ranch in Florida from January 8-11, will be competing for two LIV Golf cards in 2026.
LIV Golf’s application for ranking points was denied by the OWGR in 2023 due to its closed-shop nature.
However, having reapplied for points last June, a change of heart by the ranking body could potentially signal a change in policy among the game’s power brokers, and a possible, if unlikely, scenario which would alter McDowell’s Ryder Cup destiny.
