Splitting the top two players each from LIV Golf and the PGA Tour in a televised game could show fans that an effort is being made to fix the separate sports, Rory McIlroy said Wednesday.
McIlroy will have Scottie Scheffler as his partner in Tuesday’s 18-hole match against Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka at the Crypto.com Showdown at Shadow Creek in north Las Vegas.
Aside from the four majors, it will be their only time competing together all year. McIlroy did not count on playing with Koepka on the member’s tour at The Grove last weekend.
“We’re trying to bring these players together, and the more opportunities we get to do that, the better,” McIlroy said. “Does it remind people that we don’t play together all the time? Yes. But at least we make an 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.”
He added later: “Actually it was about us taking this into our own hands a little bit, and we’re going to do something without any tour, not to give something back to the fans but .. .” Let them know that we’re trying to provide entertainment, that the players want to play together more often.”
Koepka said he expects Ryder Cup-like vibes, and DeChambeau hinted at something “bigger and badder” next year with a big coincidence.
“With the way all of golf works, I’m not sure when we’ll meet again,” McIlroy said of the two tours. “The idea is to combine the best of both worlds into a game that people can get behind and enjoy.”
McIlroy is on the PGA Tour Enterprises marketing committee that has been negotiating with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund — LIV’s financial arm — to become a minority investor.
It is not yet certain what type of program – LIV has shown no signs of moving – would allow players from both regions to play more often outside of the majors.
“We’d like to see everyone get back together,” Scheffler said. “There’s been a lot of talk about LIV versus the PGA Tour, it’s all about money. We want to get back to the competition. … It’s nice to come together to compete.”
The PGA Tour granted McIlroy and Scheffler the release to play at Shadow Creek, with McIlroy saying “it took a few conversations to get them to where they realized this could be a good thing in the long run.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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