Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Brooks Koepka & Bryson DeChambeau's 'showdown' promo gives major hint on PGA and LIV's deal

LIV Golf's promo poster for "The Showdown" featuring Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler, Bryson DeChambeau, and Brooks Koepka dropped a major hint at the progress of the potential merger of the Saudi circuit and PGA Tour. In the upcoming edition of The Match, titled "The Showdown," the top-ranked PGA Tour players will team up to play against top-ranked LIV golfers.

It will be the first time since the inception of the Saudi series that PGA Tour players will play head-to-head against LIV Golf players. Recently, the date for the event was announced, and it will take place on December 17 at the Shadow Creek Golf Course.

LIV Golf recently promoted The Showdown on its social media pages, with its poster featuring both PGA Tour and Saudi circuit players. So far, both series have not promoted each other's events or players, but for this event, LIV Golf shared a post featuring PGA Tour players as well. They have shared two posters for the most anticipated tournament of the year. In one, they confirmed the match date, writing:

"It’s on in Vegas 👀 CONFIRMED: The Showdown will take place December 17th at Shadow Creek 🤝"

In another poster, they asked fans which squad they were cheering for, writing:

"Which squad you got in The Showdown at Shadow Creek?"

Intriguingly, The Match comes as the PGA Tour and LIV Golf have been discussing their potential merger. Over the last two years, golf has witnessed dynamic changes, with the emergence of the PIF-funded league and the bifurcation of men's professional golf.

However, things have changed in the last few months, and golfers, such as Rory McIlroy—who was initially against LIV Golf—have softened his stance toward the breakaway league.

Amid all this, with PGA Tour and LIV golfers now finally playing on the same field and the Saudi circuit promoting the event with the Tour's players in the poster, fans wondering if this could be a hint of progress in the merger between the two circuits.

Furthermore, Rory McIlroy recently hinted that the potential merger could see some major development by the end of the year, which interestingly coincides with the timing of this edition of The Match.

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Rory McIlroy drops a major hint about PGA -LIV deal

Earlier this month, LIV golfers and PGA Tour players competed at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. The tournament also featured PIF Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan and Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan.

Ahead of the event, four-time Major winner Rory McIlroy was asked about the merger between LIV and the PGA. The Ulsterman suggested that there might be a headway by the end of this year. He said (via CBS Sports):

"Maybe it's going too slow for the people that follow golf. In the business world, deals of this size take time. You are talking about billions of dollars changing hands, different jurisdictions. I think we'll know a lot more by year's end. We're in October, so hopefully [there's] three months to get something done."

Notably, the merger deal has been in talks since it was announced in June 2023. It was initially slated to be finalized by the end of December 2023 but was again postponed to 2024.