Rory McIlroy and Brooks Koepka represent one half of “The Showdown,” a new matchup between LIV and PGA Tour stars.
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The LIV-PGA Tour match we’ve all been waiting for officially has a date, a location … and a name.
“Coping” — an 18-hole match between PGA Tour stalwarts Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler and LIVErs Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka — will officially air on Tuesday, Dec. 17, capping the made-for-TV event in an early slot of the week. before the holiday break.
The event will take place in the ultra-exclusive Shadow Creek Golf Club in Las Vegas, Nevada, doing Coping the latest golf event in a Vegas market that has proven ripe for made-for-TV golf matches. Coping will follow in his footsteps The Netflix Cupseveral repetitions of match AND the original match, Tiger vs. Philin the Vegas market, with Shadow Creek serving as host for the first and last events.
As has been the case for most iterations of match, Turner Sports will once again serve as the event’s broadcaster, with the network reportedly helping fund the multi-million dollar appearance fees for each of the players involved. TNT will be the main broadcast network for of Copingand while no broadcast time has yet been announced for the event, it’s safe to assume that the organizers will plan for the event to air during prime time on the East Coast of the United States, as has been the case for most other made-for-match matches. TV.
The nature of the match LIV vs. The PGA Tour makes it unusual in the golf space. We haven’t seen an event like this since the original tournament was created due to scheduling and broadcast rights reasons. As has been the case with each of the games that have come before it, Turner will have to pay a PGA Tour fee to “release” the media rights of any Tour player from the exclusivity clause of the Tour’s broadcast agreements. It’s unclear whether LIV’s TV contracts contain a similar clause, or whether Turner will have to pay any money for DeChambeau or Koepka’s TV rights.
However, among the players involved in this event, Coping has been described as the rarest form of golf entertainment property in the last half-decade in the sport: one that exists solely for the benefit of the fans. While there is plenty of room to quibble with the competitive structure or the integrity of the event, Coping gives golf fans the opportunity to see arguably the two biggest stars in each of the major professional tournaments – an increasingly rare event in the era of the division of golf pros.
