Scottie Scheffler jumped at chance to play with McIlroy against DeChambeau and Koepka

MONTREAL – It wasn’t too complicated for Scottie Scheffler when his agent presented him with the proposal for a made-for-TV match that pitted Scheffler and Rory McIlroy against Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka.

“Those are two guys I really miss competing against,” Scheffler said Tuesday.

More details will be known in the coming weeks, but the two-man team competition, scheduled for mid-December in Las Vegas, is being billed as the first direct PGA Tour-versus-LIV battle – even if Scheffler didn’t seem to view it that way, as a potential next step in golf’s ongoing civil war.

“There’s just so many moving pieces in that deal,” he said. “It’s one of those things where my friendships to guys out there hasn’t really changed that much. I think in the beginning, when some of the guys were suing us” – including DeChambeau, who was part of the original lawsuit against the Tour – “that was a bit frustrating for players out here, but over time those things kind of fade. I don’t think there was a ton of ill will for that type of stuff. At the end of the day, you have your business, and you have your personal stuff, and I try not to cross the lines too much just because things get a little hazy there sometimes.”

Scheffler has match-play history with his two opponents.

He partnered with DeChambeau at his first Ryder Cup in 2021, going 1-0-1 in a pair of fourball matches together. His partnership with Koepka didn’t go as well last year in Rome – they went 0-1-1, including a 9-and-7 loss in foursomes play that represented the worst defeat in Ryder Cup history.

“When (my agent) originally brought it up to me, I was like, Yeah, it sounds like fun,” Scheffler said. “(Brooks) has had a great career; he’s a guy I love competing against. You’ve got Bryson, with all his stuff, I think he’s a fun guy to be around. It definitely interested me, and the way things fell together, it seemed to work out nice. It seems like a fun deal.”