PGA Tour crushes LIV Golf in the Showdown, leaves fans snoozing
Today at 10:21 PM
Team PGA Tour, featuring Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler, beat Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Kopeka in The Showdown. They clinched the necessary 2.5 points on the 16th hole. The LIV Golf team was on their heels from the start after a big eagle putt from McIlroy earned PGA the first point. From there, McIlroy and Scheffler cruised to an easy victory without allowing a single point to their opponents.
The PGA Tour duo won the six-hole, four-ball session in just four holes. They took the second point after winning Alternate Shot. That left six holes of match play, which Scheffler helped clinch the team win against Koepka.
These players are on different tours because of the game’s fractured state, and this was an attempt to get fans interested in golf. Social media reaction shows that it did not work.
The Showdown sets the scene for TGL
The Showdown is not the last fans will hear from made-for-tv golf. The PGA Tour created TGL in conjunction with McIlroy and Tiger Woods’ company TMRW. While it will be a very different style from The Showdown, as it is indoors, the banter remains the most important part. After Tuesday’s event, there is work to do.
DeChambeau and Koepka were in one cart, while McIlroy and Scheffler were in another. These cart cams caught two interesting conversations, one between the PGA Tour guys about creatine and one between the LIV guys about their contentious relationship in the past. But the fans wanted the players to be poking fun at each other like they do on the golf course, and that did not happen.
@ColtKnost from CBS and Golf.com posted what all the fans were thinking, “Somebody talk some trash!!!! [Loosen] this thing up!”
The key lesson to learn is that having the best players in the world does not mean it makes the most interesting television. Maybe Tiger’s virtual league will break that mold.
TGL starts on January 7 and should include more banter between the players to keep people interested. The Showdown awarded Scheffler and McIlroy $10 million in cryptocurrency, but fans were hoping for a better product to watch on Tuesday.
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