Did PGA TOUR vs. LIV Golf’s ‘The Showdown’ Live Up to the Hype?

The PGA TOUR and LIV Golf were finally pitted against each other in the Crypto.com “The Showdown” last night. After the smoke has cleared and Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy walked away with the victory over Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau, did the event live up to the hype?

To be short and to the point, no.

The event was the first opportunity the two tours had to finally make some sort of statement, whether literally or figuratively, that division in golf was over. While it was a friendly matchup that seemed to have no bad blood, previous iterations of The Match, the past version of the event, were more dramatic and more entertaining than last night.

It was not all bad, of course. A great venue, four powerful names in the sport, and some great shots managed to save the entire thing. However, we’d like to see some fixes before they try this again. The sad part is, the hype leading up to this event was more exciting than the event itself, and it truly fell flat of the mark that many, me included, expected.

Commentary Fell Short

The commentary team was no different than it was in the past, except for the fact that Bubba Watson was the on-course analyst instead of players like Justin Thomas who have done it in the past.

Charles Barkley being in the booth is always a nice treat for the viewers because he provides a nice piece of comedic relief. He has had some legendary moments behind the mic in the booth, including the legendary hole-out from Tom Brady several years back:

But last night, there was no real banter, no playful narration, only a handful of jokes. It felt dry and like it was a tad too serious.

There Was a Lack of Aggressive Play

I know that these players who are obviously hurting for money (sarcasm) were super concerned about winning so they could line their pockets and afford food for their families this month.

But irons off the tee in an exhibition that is supposed to be a catalyst for bringing excitement back to golf fans?

What the hell was that about?

I would have liked to see more drivers, more going for the green, more flash. The event had some really excellent shots — Rory’s putt from off the green was excellent — but it felt like there was a certain conservatism that all four had that really took away from the fun that could have been had.

PGA TOUR vs. LIV Golf Narrative Felt Abandoned

The way this could have been more attractive to fans is really to pit these two tours against one another and then slowly drift into unification toward the end. Enemies become friends, so to speak.

It didn’t feel like there was anything that really moved the needle in the disagreement between the two tours, and this event could have been used to do that. It just fell short of the mark, unfortunately.

After all, the PGA TOUR failed to recognize that there were two other golfers in the event in any of its social media postings. Those who were out of the loop might have thought it was just Scheffler and Rory playing together for fun on TV.

Catch Scottie and Rory in .

Coverage begins tonight at 6 p.m. ET on TNT and Max. pic.twitter.com/8iLzAg7okJ

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) December 17, 2024

The TOUR acted petty in its buildup to this event, at least in my opinion. Acknowledging Brooks and Bryson would have been a classy act that might have shown it was ready to put the swords away and start to talk about a merger or some sort of truce.

Final Thoughts

All-in-all, it was nice to watch some golf because we won’t see some TOUR players until January. However, this was an event that could have had more flash and fun, and it really didn’t live up to what many people expected.

Cover Image via Golf Magazine