McDowell Moots Possibility Of Royal Portrush Hosting The Asian Tour

Graeme McDowell welcomed the possibility of the Asian Tour visiting Royal Portrush as the Tour continues to spread its wings. 

This week the Asian Tour event is being played at Close House in Northumberland and next week it will move to Fife for the St Andrews Bay Championship. Both events are part of The International Series which was unveiled in February last year and which has seen $300m, backed by LIV Golf, injected into the Asian Tour with purses ranging from $1.5m to $2m per event.

Last season Scott Vincent topped the inaugural International Series order of merit to earn a spot on the LIV Golf League and McDowell was buoyant about the new-found pathways for the Tour.

"You've got to look at every tour in the world, look at the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, they try and take advantage of global opportunities and I think the Asian Tour are always happy to travel around the world and I think taking this product to places that have never been before like the UK and Ireland, right and perhaps North America, South America, who knows kind of what the future may hold but I think it's so great that and I think golf tours should be global," the 2010 US Open champion said.

This is the fifth of 10 International Series events on the 2023 calendar with the Series contributing $19m to the Asian Tour’s total prize fund and McDowell would love to see his home country of Northern Ireland added to the calendar in the years to come.

"Absolutely! Asian Tour Portrush, obviously I'd love to go up there, obviously we're kind of happy with the partnership that we have now with the with the Asian Tour and Cho (CEO of Asian Tour Cho Minn Thant) and his whole team. They're a great team and I think we're proud as LIV players and top players and guys that are obviously big names coming over to support the Asian Tour and I think it's great to see them benefiting from it and I think it's just the beginning, where can this go? I think you can go great places.

"The European Tour (DP World Tour) has never been European ever, it's kind of travelled all over the world. So I think you know Asia has to take advantage of new markets, new opportunities and take their players around the world because speaking from my point of view, I think it made me a better player playing on the European Tour when I was young because I got exposure to all different types of cultures and golf courses and grasses and environments around the world.

"I think it's great to see the Asian Tour coming to new destinations. It's great for the game, it's great for the business of the game and every tour in the world's doing it now so definitely important to follow suit."

This week sees the likes of Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter and a host of other LIV Golf stars teeing it up at Close House.