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Four of golf’s biggest names will feature in televised showdown in Las Vegas later this year
Rory McIlroy will get his wish to take on Bryson DeChambeau again before next year’s Masters when he appears in a made-for-TV battle in December alongside world No 1 Scottie Scheffler against the US Open champion and fellow LIV rebel Brooks Koepka.
With merger negotiations between the PGA Tour and the Saudi Public Investment Fund (the kingdom’s £600 billion treasure trove that bankrolls LIV) showing no sign of a resolution, McIlroy has expressed his increasing frustration that the best players in the game are only facing off in the four majors.
And although an 18-hole exhibition in Las Vegas is hardly what the fans crave, it can still be regarded as a significant step in the search for a truce that satisfies the previously warring parties.
While McIlroy has made it clear that he believes bygones should be bygones and the LIV golfers – who in some cases received hundreds of millions to jump ship – should be awarded amnesties and be welcomed back on Tour without punishment, Scheffler has been resistant to that idea, declaring in February that “they [the rebels] definitely shouldn’t be able to come back without any sort of contribution to the tour”.
A month later, with the Tour’s viewing figures down, Scheffler knew where to lay the blame. “If the fans are upset, then look at the guys that left,” he said. “That’s where the splintering comes from.”
Since these comments, Scheffler has won the Masters and the Olympics and as the undisputed world No 1 – widely seen as the most dominant since Tiger Woods in his heyday – the Texan is an influential figure and his appearance in the showdown featuring the four multiple major-winners can only be considered as notable.
DeChambeau and Koepka are banned from the PGA Tour, which must have given its blessing to this occasion at an as-yet unnamed course on an as-yet unspecified date.
Of course, the participants will be paid, and the fees will likely be in the millions, but it is unknown if there will be a charitable act to proceedings. And will it be billed as a continuation of “The Match” franchise that previously saw Phil Mickelson against Woods and DeChambeau versus Koepka, when the pair were involved in a feud that ended when they both joined LIV?
Those spectacles – shown live on US network TNT – took place before the civil war and many assumed the format had been shelved. But McIlroy now has his wish, albeit on a smaller and unofficial basis.
“Everyone needs to put their feelings and egos aside and figure out a solution where we can bring all the best players back together week in, week out,” he said recently. “I hope that changes quickly because unfortunately I think fans are losing interest.”
There will also surely be a sense of revenge in the Nevada desert air, and not just because of the acrimonious split. At June’s US Open, McIlroy looked almost certain to win his first major in a decade, before he bogeyed three of the last four holes and DeChambeau stepped up to steal the trophy on the final green at Pinehurst.
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