Scottie Scheffler eclipsed Rory McIlroy in a play-off to win the inaugural Golf Channel Games at Trump National Golf Club Jupiter in Florida.
The unique event pitted the world No 1 and his team of Keegan Bradley, Sam Burns and Luke Clacton against Masters champion McIlroy and his team of Luke Donald, Shane Lowry and Haotong Li in a series of challenges – including a relay and timed drive competition.
The American team picked up the first two points with wins in the driving and short game events, before McIlroy’s squad hit back with victory in the team relay.
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The fourth event saw Clanton star in the 14-club challenge to put the Americans up 3-1, but a bonus-point win in the final closest-to-the-pin challenge drew McIlroy’s team level and forced a play-off.
McIlroy and Scheffler squared off again to determine the victor, with Scheffler dropping his shot from 47 yards an inch closer to the hole than his opponent to claim a narrow victory for the Americans.
“It was fun, I thought the competitions were a lot of fun, it was something new,” Scheffler told the Golf Channel.
“The relay was really interesting, just a ton of fun.
“A really good experience. I almost got taken out by a golf ball, it was interesting.
“I was pretty excited when Luke [Clanton] decided to agree to this, he’s young, competitive. He started with a great long drive, did good on the chipping and then had some amazing shots on the 14-club challenge.”
Meet the teams
Team McIlroy
Team Scheffler
Rory McIlroy
Scottie Scheffler
Shane Lowry
Sam Burns
Haotong Li
Luke Clanton
Luke Donald
Keegan Bradley
Scheffler recently became just the second player behind Tiger Woods to win PGA Tour player of the year at least four times in a row. He led the tour with six victories this year, including the PGA Championship and the Open.
He became the first player since Woods in 2000 to lead the PGA Tour with the lowest scoring average in each of the four rounds and had 15 consecutive tournaments in the top 10 to end his remarkable season.
Image:
Rory McIlroy lines up a putt at the Golf Channel Games
Image:
Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler share a joke during the Golf Channel Games
What is the format?
The Golf Channel Games see players compete in time and strategy-focused challenges as part of two four-man teams lead by Scheffler and McIlroy.
The timed drive competition sees players face off in head-to-head duels and tasked with driving into a scoring grid with two minutes on the clock.The timed short-game competition involves players chipping and putting from multiple locations around the green followed by a punting gauntlet from multiple distances within a three-minute window.The fourteen-club challenge requires two teams of two players to take a club from a single bag before competing in a closest-to-the-pin competition, with players taking seven shots each per team, with all 14 clubs to be used. A player from either team will also take a lefty 15th shot.The timed shootout covers three holes as part of a four-player alternate shot challenge in which one player is lined up on the tee, one in the fairway and two at the green.Finally, the Captain’s Challenge sees Scheffler and McIlroy face off from predetermined locations, taking on iron shots, a wedge, pitch, bunker shot, a greenside shot, a 30-foot putt and a 10-foot putt.
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