Rory McIlroy has admitted that it wasn’t an easy task to get the PGA Tour to agree to ‘The Showdown’. This event will see the Northern Irishman and Scottie Scheffler go head-to-head with LIV Golf rivals Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka.
The four golfers will offer fans a first glimpse of a PGA Tour vs LIV clash, as they compete over 18 holes in three different formats in Las Vegas on December 17. Until now, players from opposite sides of golf’s divide have only been allowed to compete against each other at the four majors, following the PGA Tour’s decision to ban players who participated in the LIV set-up.
However, ‘The Showdown’ will provide four of the world’s top golfers with the opportunity to compete away from the major stage, with bragging rights certainly up for grabs.
This comes at a time when PGA Tour bosses are still in talks with LIV backers, the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia (PIF), about a potential peace deal. Despite the Tour entertaining interest from PIF, their relationship with LIV seems to be modest at best still.
Ahead of the showdown in Vegas next week, LIV has been actively promoting the event, allowing their stars more freedom to their membership status.
DeChambeau, for instance, has made a name for himself on YouTube since joining LIV, with stars like Phil Mickelson and Jon Rahm also making appearances elsewhere.
The PGA Tour however seems to have had little enthusiasm for the fight, though McAuley noted that it took the governing body some convincing to approve the match-up. He said: Finally after the couple of calls and discussions you get them to understand that perhaps this is for the better after all.
It took a few conversations. It honestly wasn’t all plain sailing but we got there in the end… They have been very supportive.”
In the past, McIlroy had been quite vocal in his distaste for LIV saying as recently as last year after the PGA Tour signed a framework agreement with PIF in June. But irrespective of that, from the beginning of this year, the four-time major winner has served softer version of his message and has been relentlessly urging people to stand together under the banner of ‘The Showdown’.
He added: “I’m not sure if it was to provoke things with all that happened, it was more of us taking this into our own hands a little and do something outside the tour not only to give something back to the fans but to show them at least we are trying.”
‘Well, we are in the process of trying to team these players; the more we can do that the better,’ McIlroy said. Does it comfort people telling them that we are not playing all the time? Yes. But at least we’re making the effort to try to cross paths of best more often. If we can start by doing something like this, that’s only a good thing.