Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler will face Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau on December 17.
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Our current sporting era of “player empowerment” has been, as the name suggests, fruitful for players – especially in recent years. But it has often come alongside bad news for sports fans. By prioritizing their long-term prospects, players miss more games, while teams (and, indirectly, fans) go out for liquid contractforcing organizations to tighten budgets as everyone prioritizes superstars of stars. That’s not to say it’s wrong that these players don’t deserve it, just that most of these changes benefit those on the field long before those in the stands.
With all due respect to college football, it’s possible that no sport has known this imbalance better than men’s golf. Players have received bigger purses, bigger bonus money, and even nicer courtesy cars (not to mention more porta-johns on courses). But what has the empowerment of players brought? in?
Next week Crypto.com Deal may seem like an unlikely answer to this question, but it’s an interesting test case, at least. The Showdown features Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka facing off against Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler, another made-for-TV exhibition, this one played in Vegas in front of a packed crowd in our country. most expensive golf coursepaying out millions in cryptocurrency to winners. But before your eyes roll to the back of your head, know that this one should feel different. Because she IS different. Fans are getting a glimpse of what they swear they’ve been asking for most: unity.
It comes in smaller doses and can be afforded fairly too little too late since we are in the one year anniversary of failure to meet a term agreement between the PGA Tour and the Saudi PIF, a deadline that was nothing more than a tease. But no matter how long golf fans have waited, golf’s worst-kept secret is that they’ll end up waiting longer, at least until 2026, to see lasting unity. Exasperated? Rory McIlroy says, welcome to my world.
Despite being one of LIV Golf’s biggest critics years ago, McIlroy publicly focused on the belief that, with all the best players under one roof, the professional end of the sport could rise. Might spend a month in Western Europe and another month touring East Asia and Australia. He may spend 60% of his time in America, where golf’s largest market exists, but also lap like F1 driversturning Jordan and Justin and Xander into global sports stars, not just golf stars. That’s all McIlroy could talk about 11 months ago, an idea he depended on other people getting on board. That made him ripe for a field. Another one wave of tour faithful had left to play elsewhere, but television producer Bryan Zuriff approached McIlroy in Dubai to sell him on LIV’s best vs. the PGA Tour’s best for the first time.
Amazingly, the four Showdown contestants reached a deal just as their competitive paths stopped crossing — like summer camp buddies planning a reunion to keep the good times going. Part of the appeal is rooted in what these four are capable of – McIlroy and DeChambeau gave the battle of the season at the US Open in June, a TV ratings delight. But part of it is also rooted in what we all knew was coming. Those two golfers haven’t been on the same golf course since July, unless you count the group of Happy Gilmore 2. Six weeks after their last match, The Showdown was officially announced, just as McIlroy’s mind began to suggest that the PIF might consider taking its money elsewhere.
“I think with everything that’s happened, it was really for us to say, you know what, we’re going to take this into our own hands a little bit,” he said this week, “and we’re going to do something about it outside of each tournament, to give something back to the fans. To show them, you know, at least let them know that we’re trying to provide entertainment … the players want to play together more often.”
The generosity in that mentality comes from a place of anxiety, as McIlroy made clear on Wednesday. He and Scheffler were asked whether conceding a match against the other side of golf’s cold war would only serve as a reminder of that war and do more harm than good.
“I’ll take it,” McIlroy said, jumping ahead of Scheffler. “Because I think that’s a terrible question.”
What followed was his admission that, yes, Golf The Sport has grown in popularity while Pro Golf On Television has faded. No player has been more vocal about this than McIlroy, who has spent countless hours the past three years in meetings focused on improving a product — both on TV and otherwise — that solves the problem.
Let’s go back to March, to something McIlroy said at The Players Championship. “I think what has to happen is you have to create things for the fans, for the sponsors, for the media, and then you have to go sell it to the players. Tell them to deal with it, because if they come on board and we’re all part of the business now, if the business runs better, we do better.”
He looked annoyed when he said it. Because he is upset that the sport is broken. He is upset with himself for some of his responses to this. He is upset that it will take more than two years to put it back together, if it actually happens, and he was very upset with the negative implication from a reporter.
All this brings us back to the conception of this event. It was originally supposed to be played months ago, at the Stanwich Club in Connecticut, but was moved west as spots on the calendar filled up and temperatures began to drop. He has landed in December, most importantly, during a week where there is no competitive tournament. Why next week and not this week? Next week prevents McIlroy and Scheffler from requesting a conflict event release form from the PGA Tour. The tournament meets these requirements often – and would no doubt have given one for two of its biggest stars – but empowering players works best when you have full permission and no concessions. Next week is one of the few weeks on the calendar where Scheffler and McIlroy wouldn’t need to make too many concessions for the tournament they signed their media rights to.
“They have been LOT prop,” McIlroy said with a hint of sarcasm. “You know, it took a few conversations to get them to the point where they saw that this might be a good thing in the long run. It took a few conversations. It wasn’t all simple, but we got there in the end.”
there it could mean something bigger at some point, perhaps something as grand as what Koepka and DeChambeau hinted at Tuesday: a Ryder Cup-style event sometime next year. But for now it’s as simple as four of the most compelling players on the planet playing against each other, a little Christmas present from the players to the fans, an acknowledgment that as they continue to get more, we also need something.
