Why Can't We Be Friends

One by one, four of golf’s biggest stars took their assigned places in a driving range teaching bay cramped by photo equipment and an anxious crew. At the risk of offending any of these titans, each worthy of top billing, we list them in alphabetical order—Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler. They had assembled to take a family-style portrait, but the spectacle of seeing them together was a reminder that pro golf has been anything but one big happy family these past few years.

“It's great looking in your eyes,” a posing Koepka said to DeChambeau.

“It’s my favorite thing,” DeChambeau deadpanned, the camera clicking and strobes firing.

“We’ve definitely been around each other too much the past few days,” a laughing Scheffler interjected.

Scheffler was referring to the quality time this formidable foursome had enjoyed working on a film project, which on this day mixed with other promotional video work as well as this Golf Digest portrait session led by fashion photographer Michelle Watt. Other than McIlroy, who was a couple of weeks out from defending his Race to Dubai title on the DP World Tour, this was offseason for this group. The next meaningful time these four will peg it is The Crypto.com Showdown, the first of a new exhibition golf series that will take place at Shadow Creek Golf Course on Dec. 17 and air on TNT Sports.

The sun was setting at Fiddler’s Elbow Country Club in Bedminster, N.J., call-time had been predawn and fatigue was setting in. Even two-time U.S. Open champions like DeChambeau are not immune to getting “hangry,” but it was hard to spot any animosity among the four. Even the well-chronicled feud between the two LIV guys seemed more softened than the catered guac on set.

“It was nice to see an overall brotherly candor among them and hear them crack a few dirty jokes with each other,” said Watt, who staged the shoot hoping to produce timeless images befitting the quartet’s “mythic status” in the sport. “You can feel a sense of togetherness in the portrait.”

Of course, the divide continues. As of this writing, negotiations between the PGA Tour and the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (LIV’s financial backer)—to flesh out the infamously stale “framework agreement” and bring the game’s biggest names back together in competition more often—have not produced a reunited schedule. Despite rumors of a bigger cash infusion to placate golfers who stayed loyal to the PGA Tour, any agreement will still be subject to approval by the U.S. Department of Justice. LIV Golf, which is expected to appoint a new CEO shortly, isn’t going away anytime soon.

For now, Hollywood magic is extending beyond the camera, with long days on set helping to forge better relations.

“When we see each other on tour or at majors, we’re in our little world, our little bubble. Here, you’re just cutting up, hanging out pretty much the whole time,” Scheffler said. “It’s always fun getting to know guys in a more relaxed environment. That’s what’s fun about the team events.”

As for the aforementioned one-day team event in Las Vegas, Scheffler and McIlroy will represent the PGA Tour against the LIV duo of DeChambeau and Koepka. The 18-hole clash will essentially be three six-hole matches using the three formats familiar from the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup: four-ball, foursomes and singles, with McIlroy squaring off against Koepka and Scheffler taking on DeChambeau. McIlroy has played in two editions of The Match, another made-for-TV golf series on TNT, but senses a different vibe this time.

“There is a bit more buzz because of what’s happened in golf the last two years,” McIlroy said. “It’s more competitive and doesn’t feel as gimmicky.”

That’s what Bryan Zuriff, longtime producer of The Match and executive producer of The Showdown, is going for as well.

“This is intense, real golf,” Zuriff said. Ever since LIV’s inception Zuriff has thought about a new concept to pit the two rival leagues. The first major step to making it a reality was a conversation this past January with McIlroy’s manager Sean O’Flaherty at the Dubai Invitational. Zuriff’s producing credits include “Ray Donovan,” and like that show’s eponymous lead character, he relishes playing the role of a fixer in pro golf’s messy landscape. Originally, Zuriff pitched an individual battle for major tally supremacy between the four-time major winner McIlroy and five-time major winner Koepka, but after the former’s heartbreaking U.S. Open loss to DeChambeau at Pinehurst, expanding seemed more sensible.

With the game’s biggest stars competing together only at the four major championships, it is no surprise the PGA Tour and LIV Golf are battling troubling TV ratings. The final round of LIV’s individual championship in September, won by former World No. 1 Jon Rahm, drew only 89,000 non-streaming viewers on the CW. Even a Rahm-Koepka showdown at The Greenbrier in August produced half the ratings of pickleball on Fox that Sunday. The PGA Tour’s new series of signature events with limited fields playing for eye-popping purses saw an initial bump in 2023, but in 2024 popular tournaments like the Phoenix Open and Arnold Palmer Invitational were down more than 30 percent in viewership. The final round of the tour’s flagship event, the Players Championship, was down 15 percent despite Scheffler closing with a 64 to edge three top-10 players. Even Sunday at the Masters was down 20 percent, with Scheffler continuing his historic run and beating LIVers like DeChambeau and Cam Smith. Are golf fans growing tired of both sides?

“The longer things drag on without clarity, the more a wounded tour is at risk of losing its crowd,” Golf Digest’s Jaime Diaz recently wrote. “Worse than being frustrated and angry, exhausted fans could simply stop caring and move on.”

NBA legend Charles Barkley, who will be a part of the TNT broadcast, put it more bluntly.

“I wish these fools would quit screwing around, LIV and the PGA Tour,” Barkley said during an October appearance on SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio. “I don’t know what the hell they’re doing. They’re so stupid. These guys are so idiotic. They need to be playing against each other [in more than] the majors. It would be beneficial for both tours.”

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DeChambeau is optimistic the two sides will figure things out soon. He also thinks an event like The Showdown can bridge the gap between regular tour events and the YouTube golf audience, with which he is heavily engaged, and be a catalyst for the pro game to emerge even stronger.

“Anything that’s a disruptor is ultimately a net positive,” DeChambeau said. “There’s an opportunity to showcase the greatest golfers together, finally, for the first time in a long time.”

While DeChambeau, McIlroy and others have loudly called for unity at the game’s highest level, this Sin City match still stands to have a West Side Story Jets-Sharks feel, even if the four competitors have overlaps in sponsors, hometowns and agents, even if they’re business partners in this made-for-TV series and even if a deal gets done between the PGA Tour and LIV before future iterations. For now, and some time going forward, there’s sizzle.

“It’s a them-versus-us sort of mentality,” DeChambeau said. “We’ve been waiting on a grudge match like this for a while.”

One irony is that DeChambeau already played a grudge match against Koepka in the fifth edition of The Match. Koepka won that 12-hole match in convincing fashion to cap a couple of years in which the two sent multiple jabs (including one viral eye roll during the 2021 PGA Championship) at each other regarding everything from slow play to who had better abs. Now their newfound partnership (friendship?) seems genuine.

“It’s fun to pair up with somebody that, you know, somebody that …” DeChambeau said, pausing to find the right words. “We had a tough relationship in the past. We’ve come together and said, you know what, it’s time to show them who we really are.”

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“I think they’re businessmen, and I think they see the power they have with Bryson’s YouTube following and Brooks’ coolness,” Zuriff said. “If they work together, they’re more valuable than being against each other, so they help each other.”

Of course, there’s little choice but for golfers to help one another when they are trying to survive a carwash of video stations and photo sets on a hectic driving range buzzing with multiple drones, agents and producers haggling in the background. Even a naturally compelling concept like The Showdown needs marketing assets. In a video challenge filmed by The Bleacher Report, Koepka coached a blindfolded Bryson into nearly making a 30-foot putt. “You nailed it, bro!” Koepka said, giving DeChambeau a big fist bump. “I gotta tip my cap. That was impressive.”

Moments later, they shared a laugh when Koepka pointed out one of the few regular golfers at the course that day who had driven his cart too close to a marshy area and gotten stuck. Hey, you can’t blame someone for rubbernecking at seeing four of the best players on the planet at his home club.

When asked to describe DeChambeau, Koepka didn’t hesitate. “Quirky, opinionated, but very passionate, very driven and very hard-working.” Careful, Brooks, you’re going to make Bryson blush!

“Hard worker, too, by the way,” DeChambeau pointed back at Koepka. “It’s funny, we have some of the same practice routines after a round. I’ve seen him hit golf balls for two hours.” Shhh, Bryson!

You’re going to ruin Brooks’ reputation!

Surprisingly, The Showdown will be Scheffler’s debut in a made-for-TV golf event. The 28-year-old Texan is a heavy favorite to win PGA Tour Player of the Year for the third consecutive season, and now he has the opportunity to show he has the type of personality to also be one of the game’s top draws. “I think it’ll be fun,” Scheffler said. “I feel like when I’m playing and competing on tour, I don’t love to be distracted, but with this being mic’d up and us talking more to each other than we would in a typical tournament, this will be more interactive, more relaxed, more like what I do at home.”

When asked why they’d win, Koepka quickly noted his team’s higher major championship total, then added a sharp dagger, although out of earshot of McIlroy, that the three younger players involved have won all nine of their majors since Rory won his last a decade ago.

On this day, however, McIlroy earned the biggest win, exploding a water balloon some 30 yards away in a different TNT challenge with a stinging iron shot on only his second attempt. “Brooks and Bryson couldn’t do it,” McIlroy snickered. “I told you we were going to win.”

The easiest aspect of The Showdown to forecast is that the four golfers involved will be incentivized for it to be a success. Putting aside possibly affecting pro golf’s splintered situation, they are all partners creating a new franchise as well as building upon their own personal brands. Regardless of which team comes out ahead on Dec. 17, both sides hope those watching will win as well.

“The public deserves this. They’ve been waiting for a long time,” DeChambeau said. “This isn’t just going to be a one-and-done sort of thing. This is about bringing the game back together.”

Say cheese, everyone.