Graeme McDowell’s replacement for LIV Golf Greenbrier has been confirmed after the Northern Irishman was banned for one tournament as a result of violating the league’s anti-doping policy.
McDowell revealed on social media that he had been randomly selected for a test as part of LIV’s anti-doping program and “had mistakenly used an over-the-counter medicated decongestant stick for congestion that included a banned substance” – resulting in a positive test for R-methamphetamine.
He will now miss the penultimate event in LIV’s regular season and has been fined $125,000 as well as having to hand back the $128,000 he won at LIV Golf Nashville. McDowell’s individual results and his team’s total that week has also been disqualified, with prize money and points retroactively adjusted.
With the 2010 US Open champion temporarily out of the picture, Golf Monthly has been told that John Catlin will tee it up for Smash GC this weekend, moving over from Bryson DeChambeau’s Crushers GC – where he had been covering for the injured Charles Howell III.
However, with the American back to full health and ready for a first appearance since LIV Golf Singapore in May, Catlin was set to lose a tee time with the PIF-backed competition until news of McDowell’s misdemeanour broke on Sunday.
Catlin – who is in line to earn a full-time LIV Golf spot next season anyway thanks to leading the Asian Tour’s Order of Merit and International Series Rankings – has risen up the LIV Golf money list quite quickly in just four starts having banked a little over $1million.
He earned $182,500 for a 24th-place finish on his LIV Golf debut in Houston prior to picking up $562,500 after his best result so far – a T7 effort at LIV Golf Nashville. $201,667 was pocketed by Catlin as a result of finishing at LIV Golf Andalucia, and a further $145,200 came his way after a 34th-place result at LIV Golf UK last time out.
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