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LIV Tour PGA Tour Top Tours

„The Showdown“: New Details on the PGA Tour versus LIV Golf Duel

As was announced at the beginning of September, PGA Tour players Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler will compete in a team duel against LIV stars Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau. Now there are more details about the clash: The event will take place on December 17, 2024 at Shadow Creek Golf Club in Las Vegas, and could pave the way for more similar competitions.

PGA Tour versus LIV Golf: Who, when, where and how? – All details

The duel of the tours is called “The Showdown”. It will be a first for four of the biggest names in golf: McIlroy and Scheffler for the PGA Tour, as well as Koepka and DeChambeau for LIV Golf. The format of the duel has not yet been fully determined, but a kind of match play over 18 holes is expected. There will also be no prize money.

It will be broadcast by the US channel TNT, which is already known for the series “The Match”, in which prominent golfers such as Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson competed against each other. Despite the similar concept, “The Showdown” is not part of this series, but is an independent event.

Plans for the future

“The Showdown” could be the first of several matches between PGA and LIV players. There are already plans to expand this format in the future, with larger teams of possibly six or eight players per side. It is also planned that the duel will take place at least once a year and be played alternately in the USA and internationally.

This match offers fans a rare opportunity to see the best players from both tours come together more often than just at majors. Since the inception of LIV Golf, the question of whether the world rankings accurately reflect the skill levels of all players has been raised time and time again: As LIV events do not provide world ranking points, the LIV players slip further and further down the rankings.

PGA Tour players and LIV Tour players hardly ever meet in their regular tournament calendars. This year, they only competed in majors and at the Olympic Games: World number one Scottie Scheffler won the Masters and the gold medal at the Olympics. Bryson DeChambeau also won another major this year, narrowly beating Rory McIlroy at the US Open in Pinehurst. Koepka secured his fifth major victory last year at the PGA Championship.

Matches between players on the PGA Tour and LIV Golf could help to resolve uncertainties about playing strength. This is also the hope of Bryson DeChambeau, who spoke at an LIV Golf event in Chicago: “I think it’s going to develop over the course of time and hopefully give the people what they want.” It is possible that the match will become a regular feature of golf, regardless of the ongoing negotiations between the PGA and the LIV financiers.

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PGA Tour

Scottie Scheffler – A Season Of Superlatives

By winning the Tour Championship, Scottie Scheffler underlined his incredible season on the PGA Tour, which he also ended as FedEx Cup winner for the first time. The 28-year-old played a season of superlatives that brought back memories of a certain Tiger Woods. A look back at great triumphs, prize money records and a scoring average that is second to none.

Title No. 7 – Scottie Scheffler follows in the footsteps of Tiger Woods

For Scottie Scheffler, the triumph at the Tour Championship 2024 was not only the brilliant end to an exceptional season, but also his seventh victory on the PGA Tour 2024 – an achievement that had not been equaled since Tiger Woods in 2007. The 28-year-old also secured all of his tournament victories at prestigious events with well-known competitors. Scheffler’s first triumph of the calendar year at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at the beginning of March was followed by a victory at the Players Championship just one week later. In April, the American recorded his third and biggest triumph of the season on the PGA Tour at the US Masters 2024, followed by a victory at the RBC Heritage a week later. In June, Scheffler finally triumphed at two more signature events: the Memorial Tournament and the Travelers Championship. The Tour Championship victory marks the crowning glory of this impressive season on the PGA Tour, including prize money of an incredible 25 million US dollars – the biggest individual prize money in the history of the PGA Tour.

TournamentPrize Money
Arnold Palmer Invitational$4.000.000
Players Championship$4.500.000
US Masters$3.600.000
RBC Heritage$3.600.000
The Memorial Tournament$4.000.000
Travelers Championship$3.600.000
Tour Championship$25.000.000

Including the FedExCup victory, Scottie Scheffler’s earnings on the PGA Tour this year amounted to an incredible 62.3 million US dollars – unsurprisingly another record. For comparison: Tiger Woods’ 2000 season is considered one of the greatest in history – he won three of his 15 major championships by a total of 24 strokes, won nine times in 20 tournament starts and collected around 9.2 million dollars that year. So much for the increasing prize money on the PGA Tour.

Olympic gold: Scheffler’s crowning glory at the gates of Paris

Scottie Scheffler did not celebrate possibly his most important victory of the year on the PGA Tour. On the outskirts of Paris, the 28-year-old was crowned Olympic champion for the first time after a final-day thriller. In his gold triumph, Scheffler set a course record at Le Golf National and beat Tommy Fleetwood from England (silver) and Hideki Matsuyama from Japan (bronze).

Scheffler delivers historic scoring record on the PGA Tour

Scottie Scheffler set another record with the lowest scoring average in the history of the PGA Tour. His average score of 68 strokes for the entire season is the lowest ever recorded in the PGA Tour statistics. This is also reflected in his season statistics: Scheffler leads the field on the PGA Tour in the ‘Strokes Gained’ category, as well as in ‘Greens in Regulation’ and the ‘Putting Average’, to name just a few statistics.

Arrest and baby happiness – “I feel like I’ve lived almost a full lifetime in this one year”

In addition to all the major triumphs, statistics and prize money, Scottie Scheffler also caused quite a stir off the golf course this season. While the birth of his son was the big highlight in the life of the world number one, many golf fans will probably remember Scheffler’s curious arrest at the PGA Championship. Following his Tour Championship victory, Scottie Scheffler summed up his year 2024 appropriately: “I feel like I’ve lived almost a full lifetime in this one year. It’s been nuts.”

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Equipment What's in the Bag

FedExCup 2024: Scottie Scheffler’s Winning WITB

After an exciting season start, Scottie Scheffler secured the win back at the Players Championship 2024, the Masters Tournament 2024 and the RBC Heritage. Scheffler continued to rely on TaylorMade and the new Spider Tour X putter, which his Tour colleague and TaylorMade staff player Rory McIlroy recommended to him in March and won back to back. After he secured a gold medal at the Olympics 2024 in Paris he now claims the seasons top spot in the FedExCup ranking with his victory at the Tour Championship.

WITB Scottie Scheffler for the Olympics 2024

(Image: TaylorMade)

Driver: TaylorMade Qi10 (8°)

(Image: TaylorMade)

3 wood: TaylorMade Qi10 (15°)

(Image: Srixon)

Driving Irons: Srixon ZU85 (3, 4)

(Image: TaylorMade)

Irons: TaylorMade P7TW (5-PW)

(Image: Titleist)

Wedges: Titleist Vokey SM8 (50, 56)

Titleist Vokey WedgeWorks Proto (60.5)

(Image: TaylorMade)

Putter: TaylorMade Spider Tour X

(Image: Titleist)

Ball: Titleist Pro V1

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Panorama

Scottie Schefflers Cap Sold for Impressive Price

Do you remember May 17, 2024? – That’s right, that was the Friday on which world number one Scottie Scheffler was arrested. Pictures of Scheffler in prison garb went around the world and it was unclear whether he would even make it to his second round tee time at the PGA Championship. As is well known, he did make it and even played an impressive – for the circumstances – round of 66. The white Nike golf cap he was wearing that day was auctioned off at a Kids Cancer Alliance charity event along with three golf balls signed by Scheffler for 2,375 dollars.

Image: Getty

Scheffler had signed the cap and donated it to the organization along with the golf balls. The event took place in Louisville, where the 2024 PGA Championship was also held.

Scottie Scheffler: His white cap was worth almost as much to the bidders as the bat of a famous baseball player

To put it in perspective: Scheffler’s simple-looking white cap fetched almost as much money as Shohei Ohtani’s signed baseball bat, at just under 2,400 dollars. Ohtani, of the Los Angeles Dodgers, is currently the most popular baseball player in the world. The baseball exhibit was auctioned for 2,750 dollars.

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PGA Tour

Scottie Scheffler Battling Back Tightness in First Round of the BMW Championship

Scottie Scheffler dealt with back problems during the first round of the BMW Championship on the PGA Tour. After a high draw on the Par-5 17th, Scheffler grabbed his back seemingly in pain. In the post-round interview, the Masters champion spoke about the back issues.

Scottie Scheffler: “I was laboring most of the day to get through the ball”

“With it [back] being a little bit tight, it was hard for me to get through it, and I was laboring most of the day to get through the ball. On 17 I was trying to hit a high draw, and that’s a shot where I’ve really got to use a big turn, big motion. Really just felt it a little bit. But other than that, all good. Maybe I hit a few too many balls yesterday or something. It was just a little sore. I’m sure I’ll get some ice on it and stuff and I’ll be totally fine tomorrow.”

Bad ball-striking perfomance from Scheffler

Scottie Scheffler leads the Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green for the season. In the first round of the BMW Championship though, he lost strokes to the field in SG: Tee-to-Green. This time his putting, which is normally Schefflers weak spot, saved his round. He holed over 100 feet of putts.

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PGA Tour

PGA Tour: The Race to the FedExCup Playoffs – Why Even a Victory Is Not Enough

The Wyndham Championship marked the end of the 36-event regular season of the PGA Tour, determining the top 70 players who will advance to the FedExCup Playoffs. These Playoffs, consisting of three tournaments, begin with the FedEx St. Jude Championship and continue with the BMW Championship. Only the top 50 players from the St. Jude Championship will move on to the next stage, and this group will also earn spots in all Signature Events in 2025. The season then culminates at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, where the top 30 players will compete for the FedExCup title and a significant $25 million prize. This article takes a closer look at who secured their place, who missed out, and why even a tournament victory doesn’t always guarantee a spot in the Playoffs.

The Top 10 Players: Leading the Standings

Leading the charge into the Playoffs are the season’s standout performers, Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele, occupying the first and second spots, respectively. Following closely are Rory McIlroy, Collin Morikawa, and Wyndham Clark, all of whom have shown exceptional form throughout the year. Ludvig Aberg, making waves in his debut full season on the PGA Tour, impressively holds the sixth position. He is trailed by Sahith Theegala and Hideki Matsuyama. Perhaps the most unexpected presence in the top 10 is South Korea’s Sungjae Im, who clinched the ninth spot. Rounding out the elite group is Ireland’s Shane Lowry.

Notable Players Missing the Playoffs

Not surprisingly, Tiger Woods is absent from the Playoffs roster. The legendary golfer, who now selectively participates in Majors and his own Genesis Invitational, wrapped up the season in 220th place. For Woods, the result holds little consequence as his focus has long shifted to the bigger stages of the sport. Rickie Fowler, a recent father, also failed to make the top 70, finishing 106th, far from the qualifying mark. Europe’s Ryder Cup stalwart Nicolai Hojgaard, who played a pivotal role in Rome, finds himself on the outside looking in after finishing 81st in the standings.

Matt Kuchar’s remarkable streak of 17 consecutive Playoff appearances came to a halt this year, as he finished 103rd. Similarly, Kevin Kisner, who will once again lend his insights as an NBC commentator during the Playoffs, ended his campaign in 196th place.

The Davis Riley Scenario: When a Win Isn’t Enough

Davis Riley’s situation underscores the unforgiving nature of the FedExCup Playoffs qualification process. Despite claiming victory at the Charles Schwab Challenge, earning a hefty 500 FedExCup points, Riley narrowly missed the cut, finishing 71st—just one spot shy of advancing. This scenario highlights that a single win, no matter how significant, doesn’t guarantee a Playoff spot. A comparison with Sepp Straka, who has yet to secure a win in 2024, further illustrates this point. Straka’s consistency, particularly in the Signature Events, propelled him to 18th in the standings. His two top-five finishes at the RBC Heritage and the Memorial Tournament earned him more points than Riley’s lone victory.

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Panorama

What the Golf Stars Are Doing Off the Course at the Olympics 2024

Early childhood moulding: Bennett Scheffler is less than three months old and already a cosmopolitan. Because dad Scottie and mum Meredith have been taking their little boy, who was born on 8 May, with them almost everywhere ever since. Even to the Olympic Games 2024. Baby Bennett has been to the Louvre and made the Mona Lisa smile a little more, strolled along the banks of the Seine with his parents, watched the Olympic table tennis tournament and witnessed the Olympic comeback of exceptional gymnast Simone Biles. In short: an American in Paris.

 
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Ein Beitrag geteilt von Scottie Scheffler (@scottie.scheffler)

“It felt like we only saw a tenth of the museum. We were there for two hours, but I could have spent days looking at all the old paintings and reading the descriptions. I can get very interested in this kind of thing: The talent of the artists is absolutely stunning – and just great that their work has made it through time and survived.”

Scottie Scheffler about the visit to the Louvre
 
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Golf Olympics 2024: Olympians off the Course

Speaking of which, a lot of the golfing Olympians used the free time between the play-in rounds for excursions and visits to other sporting venues. Shane Lowry and Rory McIlroy, for example, watched Rafael Nadal’s doubles appearance with Carlos Alcaraz, presumably the last appearance of the Spanish tennis hero and 14-time French Open winner at Stade Roland Garros; and in view of the snapshot from the stands, we can only hope that the expression on McIlroy’s wife Erica’s face is merely due to the snapshot. Hey guys, you’re in the city of love.

 
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Ein Beitrag geteilt von Flushing It (@flushingitgolf)

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Highlights Tours

Scottie Scheffler: “Toughest Nine Holes of My Career”

Scottie Scheffler articulated what many of the remaining The Open Championship participants were likely thinking after Moving Day – except for Justin Rose, of course. “I can think of a couple days with some crazy high winds that may have been more challenging, but overall the back nine, I think that was probably the hardest nine holes that I’ll ever play,” said the world number one, before slightly revising his statement: “I shouldn’t say ever. Who knows what the next few Opens will bring? But it’s definitely the hardest that I’ve played to this point in my career.”

The two-time Masters champion held his own with an even-par round, hitting 13 out of 14 fairways. However, his putter once again let him down, failing to capitalize even from short distances. If he can manage to improve this aspect today, the third major of the year remains within reach.

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Ein Beitrag geteilt von Golf Digest (@golfdigest)

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Equipment

With TaylorMade: Scottie Scheffler’s Unbeatable Stats on the Green

An incredible run of success began for Scottie Scheffler at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March 2024. In just ten starts on the PGA Tour, the 28-year-old recorded six victories and immortalized himself among the most successful players in the history of the PGA Tour. Not only a second Masters title, but also a title defense at the Players Championship have graced his resume since then.

He used a new putter for the first time at the Arnold Palmer Invitational: Scheffler opted for the TaylorMade Spider Tour X putter. With this model, a Mallett putter, the world number 1 has since been more successful than ever before, as his statistics on and around the green show.

Scottie Scheffler: With TaylorMade to birdie rain

Scottie Scheffler played his way to his six victories in the last few months with a total of 121 birdies, 27 of which he made in the final rounds of the tournaments. He made 28 birdies from over 15 feet, 11 from over 20 feet and six from over 30 feet. Figures that prove that the world number one has nerves of steel: seven times in the six tournaments he achieved a birdie series of three birdies or more.

He usually holed his longest birdie putts from 30 t0 40 feet. In the third round of the US Masters, he holed twice from this distance for birdies, putting his strong competitors under real pressure. Another statement at the first major of the year: an eagle putt from 31 feet.

However, Scottie Scheffler converted his longest birdie putt to date at his first tournament with the TaylorMade Spider Tour X putter, at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. He converted the birdie from almost 45 feet on the 15th hole of the second round.

While Scottie Scheffler excelled with his long putts, he also frequently made it easy for himself thanks to his precise approaches. He often drove the ball off the fairway and onto the stick or made long putts close to the hole. For example, at his last triumph, the Travelers Championship, he put the ball from 132 yards directly on the 18th hole of the Moving Day.

The TaylorMade Spider Tour X putter

Scottie Scheffler played a blade putter for most of his career. He played his first rounds with a Mallett putter, the model with the significantly larger club head, in 2023, but returned to the familiar blade head. TaylorMade then developed a new prototype that would be perfectly matched to Scheffler’s putting. After various adjustments, Scottie Scheffler finally found the perfect model in the TaylorMade Spider Tour X putter for a winning streak that hardly any golfer had achieved before.

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Live

World Golf Ranking: Scottie Scheffler Maintains Top Position Among Americans

The World Golf Ranking this week has presented some interesting shifts among the American players.

Scottie Scheffler continues to hold the top spot as the best American golfer, ranked at number 1 with no change from last week. Scheffler’s average points remain solid. On the other hand, Xander Schauffele stays steady at position 3.

World Golf Ranking: Americans in Focus

Wyndham Clark has seen a slight drop, moving from 4th to 5th place in the World Golf Ranking. Collin Morikawa holds his ground at position 6 with no change from the previous week. Patrick Cantlay remains 8th, maintaining his previous week’s position and average points.

World Golf Ranking: Movement in the Top 10

Within the Top 10 of the World Golf Ranking, Scottie Scheffler remains at number 1. Rory McIlroy from Northern Ireland stays in 2nd place. Notable movements include Ludvig Aberg from Sweden, who has improved from 5th to 4th place. Meanwhile, Jon Rahm from Spain holds steady at 10th place. The rest of the top players, including Viktor Hovland at 7th position, exhibit stability in their rankings.