Those working behind the scenes on LIV Golf would probably be lying if they said they were not disappointed to see Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka lose The Showdown so comfortably to Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy.
While the result of The Showdown was never going to be overly important to the four players involved, it would be naive to pretend that there were not some bragging rights at stake for either the PGA Tour or LIV Golf, with four of the biggest names in the world facing off at Shadow Creek.
Ultimately, it was Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy who won in reasonably emphatic fashion. The PGA Tour found itself in a tricky spot having made virtually no attempt to promote the contest beforehand. Meanwhile, LIV Golf came in for criticism for claiming golf was the winner as fans wait for the game to come back together.
How LIV Golf would fare in a match against the top 54 PGA Tour players
LIV commentator David Feherty claimed that he now wants to see their league come up against the 54 best players on the PGA Tour in a match.
There is no doubt that LIV has a handful of outstanding players. However, the lack of depth is surely one issue which the league is struggling to address. And with that, Patrick McDonald has told The First Cut Podcast that he cannot see a LIV victory if such a match ever took place.
“I’m trying to think about who the 50th ranked player on the PGA Tour is. It’s roughly Nick Dunlap, a J.T. Poston, someone like that. And then the worst person on LIV Golf is – hopefully he’s not going to tweet at me – Anthony Kim, and then you also get into the Vincents, you get into the Iron Heads who are making moves obviously, some of the Cleeks also making moves,” he said.
“So I think it would look like a win for the PGA Tour, because not only do you have the best player in the world, the second best player in the world and probably the third best player in the world – I’ll slot Rahm in at four, it’s interchangeable week to week with those big four – but the depth of the PGA Tour compared to LIV Golf, considering it’s their entire league mind you, is a bit overwhelming.”
The matches where the PGA Tour should have way too much for LIV Golf
There are definitely a number of games which have the potential to be extremely one-sided. It must also be noted that Jon Rahm has not beaten Scottie Scheffler in either of their Ryder Cup singles matches so far.
Tom Kim finished 51st in the FedEx Cup standings, while Branden Grace was in that same spot on LIV. And the South African had a torrid year before being relegated.
Elsewhere, Nick Dunlap (49th) facing off against Kalle Samooja may not end well for LIV either. And while there are potentially some mouthwatering matchplay matches – Tommy Fleetwood versus Patrick Reed (20th) for example – the PGA Tour would surely have too much for their rival.
Of course, LIV is still in its infancy so perhaps it is too soon to be too critical of its depth. But there is no question that there are a host of legendary names past their primes which LIV is going to struggle to shift in the next few years. And that would only make their task even more challenging when you look at some of the young players knocking on the door on the PGA Tour.
Receive exclusive golf news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
