The Showdown 2024: Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler take on Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau - all you need to know
PGA Tour players Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler take on LIV Golf stars Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau in a team contest on Tuesday, December 17 in Las Vegas, with $10million (£7.9m) in cryptocurrency on offer to the winners; here's all you need to know about 'The Showdown'...
Monday 16 December 2024 21:56, UK
The PGA Tour and LIV Golf come together for the first edition of 'The Showdown', which pits two of the biggest names on each tour against each other in a team event in Las Vegas.
Who is playing in it and when?
Rory McIlroy will partner world No 1 Scottie Scheffler in a match against LIV Golf stars Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka in the first edition of The Showdown.
The special one-off event will take place on Tuesday, December 17 at the Shadow Creek Golf Club in Las Vegas, the action getting under way from approximately 11pm (UK and Ireland).
It is the first time that PGA Tour players have competed against LIV Golf players outside of the majors and the Olympics, with DeChambeau and Koepka both unable to feature on the PGA Tour since joining the Saudi-backed circuit in 2022.
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What is the format and what do they win?
The Showdown will be played over 18 holes, split into three six-hole matchplay contests replicating the Ryder Cup formats.
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The first six holes will be played as four-balls, with a switch to foursomes for holes seven to 12. The final six holes will then be contested as two singles matches.
In matchplay, the winner of each hole claims a point and it's the pair with the most points at the end who will be crowned champions and win a share of $10million (£7.9m) in cryptocurrency.
The purse exceeds that of most tournaments on the PGA Tour, with the exception of majors and signature events, with The Showdown the first major sports event to offer prize money entirely in cryptocurrency.
How have the players done this season?
Scheffler enjoyed the best year of his career, winning seven times on the PGA Tour and finishing FedExCup champion, plus claiming Olympic gold in Paris, featuring in Team USA's Presidents Cup win and defending his Hero World Challenge title.
The 28-year-old has never relinquished top spot throughout 2024 and was crowned the PGA Tour's Player of the Year for a third successive year, while his victory at The Masters was his second in three years at Augusta National.
McIlroy claimed four worldwide victories over the past year, partnering Shane Lowry to victory at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans before winning his next PGA Tour start at the Wells Fargo Championship.
He won twice on the DP World Tour to secure the season-long Race to Dubai title for a sixth time, but McIlroy also finished runner-up four times - including to DeChambeau at the US Open - and remains without a major win since 2014.
What about their LIV Golf opponents?
DeChambeau enjoyed an impressive year in the majors, following a career-best tied-sixth finish at The Masters by ending runner-up to Xander Schauffele at the PGA Championship and then claiming a dramatic US Open victory at Pinehurst No 2.
The one-shot win over McIlroy was his second US Open title and leaves him back inside the world's top 10, while he posted seven top tens in the LIV Golf League during 2024 and helped his Crushers GC side top the regular-season team standings.
Koepka wasn't his usual consistent self in the majors during 2024, with a tied-26th finish in his PGA Championship title defence his best result, although he was one of only three players to win multiple LIV Golf League events this season.
The former world No 1 won LIV Golf events in Singapore and at the Greenbrier on his way to finishing fifth in the season-long standings, with Koepka's last worldwide start seeing him claim a share of 10th on the DP World Tour at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
Does this mean an end to DeChambeau and Koepka's feud?
Animosity between the pair, played out quite openly in public, dates back to 2019 when Koepka criticised DeChambeau's slow play as "embarrassing". That led to an incident later that year where DeChambeau confronted Koepka's caddie Ricky Elliott, and the pair have been known to go at it on social media.
In 2021, things got so bad for DeChambeau, showered with heckles of 'Brooksy' at various events, that the PGA Tour threatened to eject fans heard using the chant towards him. But since both defected to LIV, it appears the hatchet has been buried.
"I've always had respect for Brooks and what he's done, and how many majors he's won," DeChambeau said. "Obviously, early on, we didn't really understand each other.
"A pretty rocky relationship; we had our spats. But we realised when we both went to LIV we had quite a few things in common, kind of like step-brothers in a sense, and we've developed a pretty solid relationship."
Koepka agrees, saying: "Obviously we've come a long way... I'm the first person to admit I can be a bit stubborn.
"Look, we all get older, we all mature a little bit, and then you realise, hey, Bryson's a good dude. I think he's severely misunderstood and I think the world is actually starting to really see who Bryson DeChambeau is, which is cool. I'm the first person to admit it, I was wrong with what my original thoughts were."
Could this help towards getting a PGA Tour/LIV deal done?
"Ideally, I think the end goal here is to get the game of golf back together," Scheffler said ahead of this unprecedented PGA Tour versus LIV Golf crossover clash.
In August, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said he had been encouraged by "enhanced" negotiations with the Saudi Public Investment Fund, but warned no deadline has been set for a deal to be agreed.
The PGA Tour, DP World Tour and PIF - financers of the breakaway LIV Golf League - signed a framework agreement in June 2023 that would combine the respective tours and seek to bring over $1bn of Saudi investment into the game of golf.
Almost a year on from the original December 31 deadline, the PGA Tour and PIF remain in negotiations over the proposed agreement, with Monahan unable to commit a date on when negotiations will conclude.
And the lack of timeline on a potential resolution has seemingly prompted the players to act and set up something like The Showdown.
"It was really about us taking this into our own hands a little bit and do something outside of either tour, to not only give back to the fans, but to show them or at least let them know we're trying," McIlroy said.
"The players want to play together more often. I feel like we're all in this holding pattern because of the negotiations and the deal, and it's not really good for anyone."
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