Rory McIlroy is eagerly anticipating the chance to reunite PGA Tour and LIV Golf players in ‘The Showdown’ next week in Las Vegas.
The Northern Irish golfer will team up with his PGA Tour comrade Scottie Scheffler to challenge two of LIV’s top players, Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau.
The duos will compete in a matchplay showdown at Shadow Creek Golf Club, with three different formats played over 18 holes. This event marks a rare occasion where leading players from both sides of golf’s divide will share the course.
Four-time major champion McIlroy sees this match as a positive step towards unifying men’s professional golf. “We’re trying to bring these players together, and the more opportunities we can get to do that, the better,” said McIlroy.
“Does it remind people we’re not playing together all the time? Yes. But at least we’re making the effort to try to bring the best together more often.
“If we can start by doing something like this, that’s only a good thing.”
Currently, McIlroy and Scheffler only have the opportunity to compete alongside those on the LIV circuit at the four major championships, as those competing on the breakaway circuit are banned from the PGA Tour.
McIlroy is excited for the upcoming matchplay event next week, but admits he’s not sure how often it will be that PGA and LIV players can go head-to-head in similar events.
“With the way the whole golf landscape works, I’m still unsure of when we’ll get together a little more often,” McIlroy commented, hinting at the current divide in the sport.
“The idea is to bring the best of both tours together in a match that people could get behind and get excited about it.”
This comes amidst ongoing talks between the PGA Tour and LIV backers, the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia (PIF), regarding a possible peace deal.
While McIlroy doesn’t think ‘The Showdown’ will drastically affect negotiations, he believes it indicates a player-driven movement towards unity. “I don’t know if it was to spur things,” the Northern Irishman added.
“It was really about us saying we’re going take this into our own hands a little bit, and we’re going to do something outside either tour, not to give something back to the fans but to … let them know that we’re trying to provide entertainment, that the players want to play together more often.
“We’d like to see everybody back together. There’s been so much talk about LIV versus the PGA Tour, all this talk about money. We want to get back to the competition. … It’s fun to get together to compete.”
