The two stars of the game – although maybe not yet this game, a series of timed challenges that test players’ full skills, were tasked with breaking a tie after regulation. The play-off: a chip-off of 47 meters, which was of course an ode to the club’s namesake.
Nearly identical shots were fired, so much so that it initially looked as if McIlroy’s team, including Shane Lowry, Luke Donald and Haotong Li, had won by an inch. But not so fast; Before the officials could measure again, Lowry picked the ball up from Scheffler and threw it into the nearby lake. Suddenly it was Scheffler, Sam Burns, Keegan Bradley and Luke Clanton basking in victory just before 11pm local.
Fun, fast and did we mention chaos?
“I thought I got him,” McIlroy said. “From there it looked like he was a little further away, but it was nice that it came down to that.”
The outcome probably didn’t matter as much as the proof of concept this event provided. Unique after years of TV competitions that ultimately came to nothing; too similar to real golf, and with too much dead time between shots, which ultimately left players running out of things to talk about. The diversity of the GCG combined with a shot clock allowed no time for stagnation.
“We tried something new,” McIlroy said. “And sometimes, you know, when you try something new, it doesn’t work out. But I think tonight it really worked out. I think the biggest thing is that all the players were into it, and I think that hopefully came across on TV. But yeah, it was fun. It was a different format. I think there was a lot more interaction between the players than in traditional golf.”
Just before 7 p.m. it was already busy in Trump’s rehearsal room. Even an entertainer performed card tricks for fans, although he wasn’t the only magician in attendance. The young Clanton, who grew up about an hour south in Hialeah, Florida, broke out on the PGA Tour as an amateur last year and had three top-10 finishes before turning professional last summer. Although he had cooled off in recent months as he adjusted to the play-for-pay ranks, his star power was undeniable, starting with launching drives in the 1990s in terms of ball speed, much like a Pete Alonso-esque slugger in the Home Run Derby.
“You could tell he wanted to do well,” Scheffler said of Clanton.
Scheffler’s team opened an early lead after the driving challenge, even as world number 2 McIlroy left top-ranked Scheffler behind.
The momentum continued to build as the competitors turned to the short game competition, which involved multiple types of chips in different holes, a flop shot over the nostalgic Big Break wall and a brisk cart ride to the practice green for a few putts that recreated the feel of the NBA’s 3-point contest. With players running between shots to fit everything within the four-minute time limit, there were quite a few chunks in bunkers. But there was also one of the highlights of the evening: Bradley’s chip-in that gave Scheffler’s team a 2-0 lead after two disciplines.
Bradley called the next event, the team relay, “the most fun” for the players. Scheffler agreed, saying afterward, “The relay was really interesting, a lot of fun. … I almost got knocked out by a golf ball.” The images of Lowry sprinting like a gazelle down the fairway or blindly dodging McIlroy approaches falling from the sky may be forever etched in this writer’s brain, as can the sound of the affable Li giggling during the match. As for the viewers, it might not have gotten any better than the 14-club challenge, first made popular in the DP World Tour social videos, which really allowed the players’ ultimate shots to shine.
A light rain made the moment even more magical, as Clanton stole the show again, finding the green with both a skull lob wedge and a choked cutoff minidriver. Scheffler nearly hit a full-gap wedge on the putting surface in a stroke that left a divot that looked more like a sinkhole. The most bizarre thing, in a good way, was the full putter shots; Do you think Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus or any of the other career Slam winners pulled back a hammer from 170 yards in a competition? McIlroy can now say he did that.
McIlroy overturned a 3–1 deficit in the captain’s challenge, a series of shots using only the two best players in the world, to force extra time. Li carried McIlroy’s bag for this while exclaiming, “Harry, I’m coming for you!”
In the end, the GCG produced what everyone was probably hoping for: compelling golf, entertaining conversation, good pacing and a photo finish between the two stars of the show.
“We have the core audience, which is great, and we know who they are and we know what they like, but to try to bring a few more people around or get a few more people under the tent, you know, doing things like this and making it a little more fun,” McIlroy said. “You look at what YouTube golf is doing, and you see how many people are watching that and enjoying it. This is kind of a hybrid of that, right? It’s live, but it’s about skill, it’s challenging, it’s fun and it’s interactive. I think there’s a place for it, just like there’s a place for everything else in the game. I’m a traditionalist, so obviously 72-hole tournament golf is what I always want to do, but these one-offs, I think, are an addition to the general calendar.”
McIlroy added: “For a Wednesday night in December, I think this was pretty good for golf.”
And Li had already argued for this: “We need a second chance.”
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