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The PGA Tour wins this round against LIV Golf.
Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy topped Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka in the latest version of “The Match,” which was rebranded this time as the “Crypto.com Showdown” at Shadow Creek Golf Course in Las Vegas on Tuesday night.
The event was billed as the “first-ever multi-million-dollar professional sports prize purse in CRO Cryptocurrency.” It’s unclear how much the winning team took home, but the prize purse was reportedly believed to be “at least $10 million.”
The competition was divided into three six-hole segments to resemble something like the Ryder Cup at Shadow Creek. The first six holes were best ball, the middle six holes were alternate shot and then the last six holes were singles matches.
The PGA Tour duo held the advantage in every stage of the match.
They were 1 up after the first hole of best ball and just kept going, clinching the first win of the night 3 and 2 via an incredible 40-foot birdie putt from McIlroy on the fourth hole. DeChambeau had a chance to keep the phase going with an eagle putt from inside five feet, but pulled it.
The LIV team did do one bit of damage, though, when DeChambeau’s tee shot on No. 2 reportedly hit Scheffler’s father.
The alternate shot was closer, with the same result. Both teams struggled with putting, but McIlroy and Scheffler were exactly one shot better, putting them up 2-0 entering the singles phase and needing to only tie at least one of the two head-to-heads.
“It got cold pretty quickly, but obviously Scottie and I got off to a really good start, and then from there it was just about trying to keep the momentum,” McIlroy said on the TNT broadcast. “It was a bit of a battle in the alternate shot and we were lucky to scrape a win over those six holes.”
For singles, it was Scheffler vs. Koepka and McIlroy vs. DeChambeau, and it was over by the 16th hole, as Scheffler clinched his matchup to finish off the proceedings, leading by two holes with two to go. McIlroy was also leading DeChambeau at the time.
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PGA Tour vs. LIV Golf finally happens as deal nears
Now Tuesday’s event, which is just the latest in “The Match” history, doesn’t mean much in the grand scheme of things. It did, though, signify a step in the right direction in the battle between the Tour and LIV Golf — which is something that finally appears to be nearing its end after years of turmoil between the organizations and its golfers.
There was a time when pitting two Tour golfers against two LIV Golf members would have been an inconceivable idea based on how the two entities were treating each other. Even after PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan shocked the golf world more than 18 months ago with the surprise framework agreement between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf, things were still very rocky.
But recently, things have turned a corner. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund — which backs LIV Golf — is reportedly nearing a deal to acquire a minority stake in PGA Tour Enterprises. According to a Bloomberg report last week, the PIF would get about 6% of PGA Tour Enterprises.
While specifics of that deal aren’t yet known, and it’s unclear when (or if) it will actually get done, it marks the closest we’ve been to a deal since the golf world initially fractured. The fact that McIlroy has changed his stance completely on LIV after being one of the strongest opponents to being willing to participate in a made-for-television event that pits the two leagues against each other is a perfect example of that.
McIlroy and DeChambeau were even throwing jabs at each other ahead of the event like old times, when they referenced McIlroy’s brutal collapse at the U.S. Open earlier this summer.
If nothing else, top players from both leagues are ready to come together and are going out of their way to prove that with events like Tuesday’s in Las Vegas. Now it’s up to the leagues themselves to actually get a deal done.
Until then, we’ll have to wait for the Masters in April to get golf’s best all on the same course at the same time.