As details of the forthcoming match — pitting the PGA Tour pair of Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler against a LIV Golf team of Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka — trickle out, something bigger picture is taking shape. This event may not just be a one-off but a sign of things to come.
The Showdown, as it is named, is scheduled for Tuesday, December 17, at Shadow Creek in Las Vegas, (perhaps not so coincidentally) the same day as the NBA’s In-Season Tournament finishes, also in Vegas. The golf will be broadcast on TNT — the longtime home of many made-for-TV matches — and will be some version of match play.
According to a source familiar with the event, it will feel distinct from various iterations of The Match that fans have seen in recent years, and is being viewed as the basis for future matches between tours. If this is a 2 v 2 showdown, parties involved see the potential to bring in additional players from LIV and the PGA Tour for a bigger battle down the road, with as many as six or eight players on each side. While the logistics of an investment deal between the PGA Tour and LIV’s owner, the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), drag on in boardrooms, those involved see this as an area where players can push the envelope in the interim.
“Look, I think all of us know we want to get this game back in good standing,” DeChambeau said at LIV’s Chicago event last month. “We want to bring this game back to a place where I would say everyone has the opportunity to see the greatest play a lot more than four times a year. I think it’s a great opportunity to showcase how we evolve that over the course of time.”
When asked if this is an idea that has kicked around among players for awhile, DeChambeau offered:
“Oh, yeah, remember we always wanted to have a PGA Tour and LIV sort of battle a couple years ago?” he said. “We always thought that would be pretty cool and whatnot. But I think it’s going to develop over the course of time and hopefully give the people what they want.”
When news first broke of this match, McIlroy was keen to say it is not “sending a message” to PGA Tour management, but offered a similar sentiment to DeChambeau.
“It’s a way to show golf fans in the world that this is what could happen or these are the possibilities going forward,” he said. “I’ve been saying this for a long time. I think golf and golf fans get to see us together more than four times a year.”
If that’s the goal, The Showdown is likely to achieve it. Organizers see a future where the event or something like it is played once every 12 months, if not more, at least while negotiations between the PGA Tour, the PIF and the DP World Tour continue and tour regulations maintain exclusivity on where certain players play their golf.
