Rory McIlroy for MVP, plus 9 other things we learned from The Showdown

The long awaited PGA Tour vs. LIV Golf battle — that neither tour was directly associated with! — finally arrived Tuesday night in Vegas. Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler took on Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka at Shadow Creek in a match billed as The Showdown. And over the course of four hours, golf fans saw something they have grown accustomed to not seeing. It was LIV’s best against the PGA Tour’s best in a non-major setting. It was under the lights and with golfers mic’d up. It had to live up to the hype, right?

Sort of.

Here are 10 observations we took away from Tuesday night in Vegas.

1. This format worked! 

Much has been made of how difficult it is to sustain viewership interest across the entirety of an 18-hole golf match. The Showdown found a way to do it, breaking 18 holes into three 6-hole matches, each with its own format. The first segment was devoted to fourball, the second a foursomes mini-match (alternate shot) and the final six holes were singles matches. Each of those matches was worth one point, which meant that no matter the result, there would be something to play for all the way to (at least) the 15th hole.

Ironically, the match really wasn’t close — keep scrolling for the result — but in many ways that’s an argument for its structure. A not-close match in this format was still intriguing for four hours. Was it entertaining throughout? That’s a different story. But the result wasn’t in hand until late.

2. The best shot of the day didn’t matter

It felt like a pivotal moment when Bryson DeChambeau pured a drawing 8-iron from 213 yards on the par-5 4th hole. He shouted at it to draw and draw and draw — and it did, bounding on the front edge of the green and rolling out to four feet. He and Brooks were 2 down in the fourball session, and they badly needed it. 

Rory and Scottie were both short of the green about 40 feet away. If Bryson could make his eagle putt, the LIV squad would be back to 1 down and riding some momentum. Unfortunately for them, McIlroy hammered his putt through the fringe, up the hill and into the jar, adding a little fist pump to go with it. The classic golf term for this? A Mongolian Reversal, as we were reminded at this year’s Presidents Cup, which became official when DeChambeau pulled his eagle putt left of the hole. Suddenly, the PGA Tour stars had won the opening session 3 and 2. 

3. That’s right — Rory came to play

From the 1st hole, it was clear that Rory had some of his best stuff, and his opponents may have been a bit rusty. McIlroy tossed a dart into the 1st green and made birdie. He added another birdie on the 2nd hole, pushing his team 2 up. He and Scheffler won the first hole of alternate shot and maintained that lead until Brooks and Bryson finally won their first hole of the day at 11 (their ninth hole).

“Welcome to the tournament,” Koepka said sarcastically as they reached the 12th tee. When he and Bryson three-putted the 12th for bogey, it was up to McIlroy to win the session. He did exactly that, easing his 4-footer into the center of the cup. McIlroy stayed hot, birdieing the first two holes of his singles match against Bryson, virtually clinching the match at that point. The Showdown was officially over when Koepka’s birdie putt on the 16th hole missed. (Let the following screenshot serve as a visual for how their night went.)

4. Greg Norman was there. And this is exactly what he wanted 

Greg Norman, the outgoing LIV Golf CEO, was posted up behind the 1st tee box when The Showdown began, even if this event was run without any involvement from LIV, nor from the PGA Tour. I couldn’t help but think that a player-driven match that doesn’t directly benefit any golf tour is precisely what Norman would have enjoyed creating back in the 1990s when he kicked off his player empowerment saga. 

5. Charles Barkley wants a pro golf merger ASAP

Barkley’s voice was once again the best part of a made-for-TV golf match, with rambling quips about anything that caught his attention. One such topic he raised multiple times was that he wants a merger between the two warring golf tours — and he wants it done yesterday. Barkley said he thinks “some stuff is going on in the background” that he disagrees with, leaving LIV golfers at a disadvantage. Without detailing exactly what he meant, Barkley made it clear he wants the best players on both sides playing together much more frequently than we have now. 

“I can say whatever I want to,” Barkley said, not pulling any punches. “I ain’t worried about gettin’ fired.” 

But that’s the thing, Chuck. Most of us are nodding along with you.

6. Mic’d up golf is still glitchy 

Made-for-television matches are complicated, mostly because of the precedent now set for players to be mic’d up at all times. The audio feed from the broadcast can be sent on command to the AirPods worn by players, but is often kept on mute so players can focus properly. 

This system is mostly all good, so long as it works when you ask it to. The first time Brian Anderson tried to communicate with Scheffler and McIlroy — as they walked off the 1st tee — neither player could hear the broadcaster. It took minutes before the microphone situation was sorted, a reminder that these telecasts haven’t been perfected. DeChambeau even removed his AirPod on the back nine, for reasons undisclosed, just icing on the cake of a shaky audio experience.

7. The desert is gorgeous. And also frigid

This match was initially set to be played in September, but was pushed back to this week. This wouldn’t be an issue if the boys teed it up at noon, but they started at 4 p.m. local time. The sun set about 30 minutes after they teed off, offering an incredible sunset but also plummeting the temperature. By the players reached the back nine, the feels-like temp was around 50 degrees. By the end, it was the mid-40s.

DeChambeau rocked a parka from the 1st tee onward. Scheffler soon added a fleece vest with a hood. The golf carts were equipped with space heaters pushing warm air directly at their passengers. They got plenty of use!

As a result, Shadow Creek played difficult. The greens were as firm as can be, sending shots landing near the hole into tricky lies beyond the green. Koepka and DeChambeau struggled to get a sense of the green speeds throughout. There’s a lesson in that, folks. Firm golf is what we like!

8. We needed more CHATTER 

We have now witnessed nearly a dozen made-for-TV matches since Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson kicked off the genre in earnest back in 2018. If we have learned anything in the last six years, it’s that the golf on its own isn’t all that entertaining. Rather, the most entertaining aspects come from the witticisms, insights and natural banter that comes from the best golfers in the world. We know it exists because we see it all season long in Tuesday afternoon money games.

And yet, despite The Showdown being billed as a more fierce competition than matches of the past, we barely received any banter among the rivals. And due to the occasional lag in microphone access, we struggled to get insights in a timely manner. Three seasons of pent-up angst that has enveloped the sport was there for the taking if these athletes would just … chide each other a bit. CBS broadcaster Colt Knost chimed in on Twitter with a very simple take: Loosen this thing up! Talk some trash! Say … something.

But we never got much at all, putting the onus of entertainment on the golf shots and the broadcasters, reducing the entire enterprise to a bit of background television. That’s fine for golf in December, but it’s doesn’t align with the grandiose expectations organizers teased us with.

9. Sponsorships are alive and well 

For a while, this event was struggling to earn a title sponsor, as reported by Sports Business Journal. But then along came Crypto.com, which put up plenty of money for the naming rights — and also plenty of cryptocurrency for the purse. Other partnerships were made abundantly clear by the broadcast, like the deal with Wing, a drone company that delivered golf balls for the match from the sky. There also were individual sponsors of the sessions, like the best-ball format brought to you by Bass Pro Shops. Heck, even LIV Golf bought a couple of commercial ad spots. If this event proved anything, it’s that plenty of businesses are interested in sponsoring golf content — especially if the best golfers in the world are involved.

10. Scottie doesn’t know crypto

Speaking of sponsors, we spent part of last week in virtual press conferences with all four participants. One question asked at each: what’s your involvement and/or understanding of cryptocurrency? Both Koepka and DeChambeau admitted to owning holdings in the non-traditional currency, while Scheffler and McIlroy did not. Well, now they all do, because the latter team ended up taking their share of $10 million worth of cryptocurrency.

When asked afterward how that digital currency will fit into his portfolio, Scheffler was as honest as you’d expect.

“I don’t know a whole lot about crypto but this is good motivation to do some research,” he said with a chuckle. “Maybe ask a couple questions to figure out what’s going on.” 

No doubt! Congrats to Scottie and Rory. And to the PGA Tour … sort of.