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. These players are on different tours because of the fractured state of the game and this was an attempt to get fans interested in golf. Social media reaction shows that did not work.
The on-screen product may not have impressed fans but it did create some viral moments. What does it mean for the future of made-for-tv golf?
The Showdown sets the scene for TGL
The Showdown is not the last fans are going to 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.
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@ColtKnost from CBS and Golf.com posted what all the fans were thinking, “Somebody talk some trash!!!! [Loosen] this thing up!”
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.
Christopher Hennessy is an MLB associate editor at ClutchPoints, with additional expertise in the NHL and golf. He graduated with a journalism degree from Fordham University in 2022, and he has work experience at Spectrum News One in Albany, New York and with The Hockey Writers as a New York Islanders reporter.