“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.
