Golf fans are finally going to get a head-to-head match between two of the best golfers on the PGA Tour and two of the best golfers in the LIV Golf League.
Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler have confirmed they will be competing in a two-on-two match against Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka, in what amounts to the next iteration of The Match series. According to Golfweek, the exhibition match will happen in Las Vegas in the final fourth of the year.
The format for the December event isn't spelled out yet, though the team-based previous editions of the match have typically been best ball of partners as match play. It's also unclear if Shadow Creek or Wynn Golf Club will host the event, or perhaps another Vegas golf venue not featured in the prior nine editions of The Match series.
It doesn't appear that the match will have any prize money on the line for the result, but the four players competing will be paid for appearing in the event.
The company that developed The Match series, BZ Entertainment, will produce this match along with the Jeff Zucker-funded EverWonder Studio.
It's unclear if this will be considered a PGA Tour-sanctioned event, as Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson sought out the approval of the PGA Tour for their original match. Since Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau play in the LIV Golf League, their PGA Tour membership standing is clearly different than that of Scheffler and McIlroy, who is on a PGA Tour committee created to lead their talks with LIV Golf's owners, the Saudi Public Investment Fund, about a potential investment and/or combination of circuits.
The PGA Tour and Public Investment Fund entered into a Framework Agreement on June 6, 2023, which led to the end of lawsuits between the organizations. It was, fundamentally, an agreement to continue talking about a potential combining of resources. So far, nearly 15 months of talking has not netted a final agreement, though PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said at the Tour Championship that progress, albeit slow progress, is being made.
That ongoing conversation is a backdrop to this contest, which pits McIlroy against two foes, including the man who beat him for the US Open trophy this year at Pinehurst No. 2. Scheffler is the clear world No. 1 in an eight-victory 2024, capped off with the $25 million FedEx Cup and the richest season in golf history. DeChambeau and Koepka teaming up is a fascinating mending of the fences after a well-publicized feud back in 2021.
