“We’re trying to bring these players together, and the more opportunities we can get to do that, the better.”
Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler face off against Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka this evening (11pm Irish time), in the battle between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf.
The match takes place at Shadow Creek Golf Club in Las Vegas, with the format replicating the matchplay of the Ryder Cup.
The first six holes will be fourball format, foursomes in the second six, and the third will be two singles matches.
It is another step towards mending the fracture in golf, following the creation of the breakaway LIV Golf Tour, with the four biggest current names in the sport taking part – including the world’s best in Scheffler.
DeChambeau is the current US Open champion, having beaten Rory McIlroy after the Northern Irishman collapsed during the final four holes, missing short putts on 16 and 18 to lose by a shot.
During a mic’d up practice session ahead of the Vegas showdown, DeChambeau hit McIlroy with a devastating put down.
When McIlroy said he would like to go up against the American in the singles “after what he did to me at the US Open”, the LIV player responded with “well to be fair you kind of did it to yourself”.
The crowd – and Brooks Koepka – were clearly in stitches, but a bit taken aback considering the nature of the defeat at Pinehurst.
McIlroy talked about how the match was organised, the reasons behind it, and the hiccups along the way.
He said: “We’re trying to bring these players together, and the more opportunities we can get to do that, the better.
“Does it remind people we’re not playing together all the time? Yes. But at least we’re making the effort to try to bring the best together more often. If we can start by doing something like this, that’s only a good thing.”
“It took a few conversations to get them to the point where they saw that this could be a good thing in the long run.
“It wasn’t all plain sailing, but we got there in the end.”
Scheffler said: “There’s been so much talk about LIV versus the PGA Tour, all this talk about money. We want to get back to the competition. It’s fun to get together to compete.”
WATCH: Liverpool BOTTLED the title race 🤬 | Who will win the Premier League?
