LIV Golf’s Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka will face the PGA Tour’s Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler in a head-to-head match Tuesday, Dec. 17 in Las Vegas.
The extremely anticipated made-for-TV exhibition was first reported in September by Golfweek, with particulars of the course and date unclear. Now the December match is formally set, and the 4 multiple-time main champions will play at Shadow Creek Golf Course. The MGM Resort course hosted the 2018 match between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson and the PGA Tour’s relocated CJ Cup in 2020. It has additionally been residence to the LPGA’s match play occasion since 2021.
The Scheffler/McIlroy versus Koepka/DeChambeau occasion has been dubbed “The Showdown.”
Broadcast particulars surrounding the LIV versus PGA Tour match can be introduced at a later date, however a prime-time TV window is to be anticipated with golf exhibitions of this nature. The Athletic confirmed the match can be broadcast on TNT, which has hosted 9 iterations of a golf exhibition collection known as “The Match.” Koepka, McIlroy and DeChambeau have every participated in “The Match” franchise, whereas Scheffler will play in a made-for-TV match for the primary time.
BZ Leisure, the creator of “The Showdown,” has promised to ship a “high-stakes” format with 18-hole head-to-head match play, paying homage to the traditions of the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup.
“All of us wish to see extra of the perfect golfers on the planet going head-to-head, battling it out on the again 9 of a match,” McIlroy stated. “At a time the place the skilled recreation has felt divided, we imagine this occasion can carry followers an unbelievable day of leisure.”
The 4 collaborating gamers maintain a mixed 13 main championship titles. Scheffler is coming off a historic season on the PGA Tour, with seven wins, together with the 2024 Masters. DeChambeau captured his second main on the 2024 U.S. Open at Pinehurst. In 2023, Koepka gained his fifth main, surpassing McIlroy’s 4 on the PGA Championship. With 4 majors and 26 PGA Tour wins, McIlroy is searching for the top of a 10-year-long main championship drought.
Though the PGA Tour, the Saudi PIF (LIV Golf’s backer) and the DP World Tour signed a momentous “framework settlement” on Jun. 6, 2023, the boys’s skilled golf panorama stays divided. Negotiations are occurring behind closed doorways, with “common dialogue” between the events, in accordance with PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan. There is no such thing as a deadline for a finalized settlement, however “The Showdown” is a promising signal of LIV and PGA Tour representatives collaborating for fan engagement.
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(Photograph: Tracy Wilcox / PGA TOUR by way of Getty Photos)
