Rory McIlroy has found his face included in the latest promotional posts put out by LIV Golf, having teamed up with rivals Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau for ‘The Showdown’ in December.
Partnered by world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, McIlroy will take on Koepka and DeChambeau in a matchplay clash that will see heavyweights from the PGA Tour and LIV go head-to-head. While both the Tour and LIV had been kept out of the promotion of the event in Las Vegas, the latter have taken to social media to advertise the clash.
Rory McIlroy featured in the promo (Image: Getty Images)
Posting on social media on Monday, the breakaway league’s official X accounted tweeted: “It’s on in Vegas. CONFIRMED: The Showdown will take place December 17th at Shadow Creek.”
Included was a picture of those competing, including McIlroy. The Northern Irishman then took pride of place in a separate video post from the LIV team soon after, with a voiceover from the league’s commentator Arlo White describing the match as, “the golf event of the year.”
The chances of McIlroy’s face appearing across LIV’s various platforms this time last year would have seemed impossible, after the PGA Tour star repeatedly shut down the league’s position in men’s professional golf. Prior to its inception in 2022, McIlroy described LIV as ‘dead in the water’ after a number of PGA Tour players ruled themselves out of making the Saudi switch.
Some of which later went back on their word, with the likes of DeChambeau and Koepka initially shutting down a move to LIV, before eventually following in the footsteps of Phil Mickelson. Even after it was announced that a peace agreement between the two tours was to be made last June, McIlroy still stuck to his guns.
Speaking at the 2023 RBC Canadian Open a day after the infamous framework agreement announcement on June 6, McIlroy said: “I still hate LIV. Like, I hate LIV.
“Like, I hope it goes away. And I would fully expect that it does. And I think that’s where the distinction here is. This is the PGA Tour, the DP World Tour and the PIF. Very different from LIV.
“All I’ve tried to do is protect what the PGA Tour is and what the PGA Tour stands for. And I think it will continue to do that. So, look, going forward I hope that there’s, you know, there may be a team element and you’re going to see, maybe me, maybe whoever else play in some sort of team golf.
“But I don’t think it will look anything like LIV has looked and I think that’s a good thing.” Now the 35-year-old finds his face plastered across the LIV platforms, of course through his own doing having played his role in helping put together the December clash with his rivals.
In the year that has followed McIlroy’s past criticism, the Northern Irishman has softened his stance, even admitting he was ‘too judgmental’ of those who made the switch. All hostitlies appeared to have been put to bed at this month’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship too, after McIlroy was seen enjoying the third round of the Pro-Am event alongside LIV chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan.
