There was ultimately not much "show" to The Showdown on Tuesday night as the PGA Tour pairing of Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy took it to the LIV Golf duo of Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka to win the inaugural event in decisive fashion. Scheffler & McIlroy raced through the initial four-ball match, eked out the foursomes match and cruised through the singles matches to win the 2.5 points necessary to reign supreme in Las Vegas.
Scheffler & McIlroy jumped out the gates and never looked back at Shadow Creek Golf Club. Leaning primarily on McIlroy in the four-ball match, the PGA Tour team won the first two holes thanks to birdies from the blade of the Northern Irishman. After both teams made pars on the ensuing hole, McIlroy maneuvered the par-5 4th in effective fashion to set up a match-clinching moment.
Rolling in his eagle putt from roughly 40 feet, McIlroy turned the tables on DeChambeau, who was in tight with a chance to extend the match. When the U.S. Open champion's putt veered left, the first match point was had by Scheffler & McIlroy to the tune of 3&2.
The foursomes match was a tighter affair as Scheffler missed a birdie bid on the first hole with McIlroy doing the same on the second. The PGA Tour team was unable to take advantage of their scoring opportunities until Scheffler stuffed a wedge in tight on the third hole. McIlroy was never forced to hit his birdie putt, however, as Koepka & DeChambeau played putt-putt on the green and gifted the lead to their opponents.
Staying in the holiday spirit, the two sides continued to present gifts to one another. After Scheffler missed a 5-foot birdie putt on the fourth hole, failing to secure at least another half point as Koepka rolled in a birdie on No. 5 to win his side's first hole of the evening and tie the second match. Unfortunately for Koepka & DeChambeau, they needed three putts again on the pivotal sixth hole of the match and gave away the full point in favor of Scheffler & McIlroy.
With two of the possible four points already obtained, Scheffler & McIlroy were required to only tie one of the two singles matches. Scheffler squared off against Koepka leaving McIlroy and DeChambeau to duke it out in a mini rematch of this summer's U.S. Open.
McIlroy's firepower persisted until the end allowing him to surge past DeChambeau in a commanding manner. Meanwhile, the world No. 1 made easy work of the five-time major champion as Scheffler's steady nature was too much for an up-and-down Koepka to overcome and put the finishing touches on a dominant night for the two players from the PGA Tour.
Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy both make par on the first hole of the singles matches, and they are enough to command leads in both matches. They just need to tie one of the two matches to take care of this bad boy.
Well, it was not pretty, but the PGA Tour wins another point in the foursomes match. Winning 1 UP thanks to a par on the last hole, the PGA Tour team needs to only tie one of the two singles matches in order to win the competition. Neither team could make a putt in the second match.
This match could be over by now, but the putters have not cooperated for the PGA Tour team in the foursomes format. They lead 1 UP with two holes to play after Scheffler missed a snapping right-to-left 5-foot putt to win the hole. They have let the LIV Golf guys off the hook a few times in this portion of the match.
The two teams have exchanged pars on the first two holes of the six-hole alternate shot match. The PGA Tour team had chances on both holes to claim the lead as Scheffler missed a birdie chance from 7 feet on the first hole and McIlroy just missed one from roughly 13 feet on the second hole.
The ol' Mongolian reversal. Rory McIlroy makes an eagle from 40 feet on No. 4 and put the pressure on Bryson DeChambeau who was inside 5 feet with an eagle look of his own. The U.S. Open champion pulls his eagle putt which means the PGA Tour team grabs the four-ball match 3 and 2. They will now transition to alternate shot.
McIlroy and Scheffler remain 2 UP as the two teams tie the par-4 3rd at Shadow Creek. With three holes remaining in the four-ball format, another hole win from the PGA Tour side will give them the first match. The second match — holes Nos. 7-12 — will be alternate shot.
It is an opening birdie from the PGA Tour side in the four-ball format. They take a 1 UP lead with five holes remaining in this portion of the match. The early lead is courtesy of Rory McIlroy who split the fairway and hit his second to roughly 5 feet before cashing in the birdie effort.
