Report: PGA-LIV Vegas match to feature US$10 million crypto purse
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Rory McIlroy will partner Scottie Scheffler to face Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau in the PGA Tour-LIV Golf matchup on Dec 17.
PHOTO: AFP
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LOS ANGELES – The PGA Tour-LIV Golf made-for-TV match on Dec 17 featuring four of the sport’s biggest names will have a purse worth a minimum of US$10 million (S$13.4 million) in cryptocurrency, Front Office Sports (FOS) reported on Nov 27.
The newly named Crypto.com Showdown will see Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy of the PGA compete against Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau of LIV in an 18-hole event at Shadow Creek Golf Course in Las Vegas.
The match will feature “a multi-million-dollar purse to be paid in CRO cryptocurrency”, said the report. It is unclear how much the winning and losing teams will receive.
The prize money is more than most tournaments on the PGA Tour, other than the Majors and signature events, which are usually in the US$8 million-US$9 million range. The winners of PGA events often take home more than US$1 million.
Crypto.com’s chief marketing officer Steven Kalifowitz told FOS that each of the four players will need to register with Crypto.com to be paid. He added that the players do not have to keep the cryptocurrency and can sell or trade their winnings.
The contest, which will air on TNT, is lined up as a Ryder Cup-style event, with matchplay rounds of four-ball, singles and alternate shot.
In a similar event in 2018, Phil Mickelson beat Tiger Woods in the first edition of The Match and took home the entire US$9 million prize.
In February 2024, McIlroy won US$2.4 million after beating Max Homa, Rose Zhang and Lexi Thompson.
Meanwhile, ESPN reported that LIV Golf is replacing chief executive and commissioner Greg Norman with former National Hockey League (NHL) and National Basketball Association (NBA) executive Scott O’Neil.
A spokesman for LIV Golf declined a request for comment.
Norman, 69, told Sports Illustrated in October that his contract was scheduled to end in August 2025. He helped to launch the breakaway golf circuit, backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, in October 2021.
Under Norman’s watch, LIV Golf completed its third season in 2024.
O’Neil most recently served as CEO of Merlin Entertainments Group, which operates amusement parks and resorts.
He became CEO of the Philadelphia 76ers in 2013.
As CEO of Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, he oversaw the Sixers and the NHL’s New Jersey Devils. He also served as president of Madison Square Garden and worked for the NBA.
O’Neil comes aboard amid ongoing negotiations for an alliance between the PGA Tour and DP World Tour, and LIV Golf.
Sports Business Journal also reported that LIV Golf was pursuing O’Neil to replace Norman.
Norman won the British Open in 1986 and 1993 and was a 20-time winner on the PGA Tour. REUTERS, AFP
