Rory McIlroy is featuring in LIV Golf promotional material ahead of ‘The Showdown’.

The world no.3 is set to compete alongside Scottie Scheffler in an exhibition match against two of LIV Golf’s most high-profile stars – Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau – at Shadow Creek in Las Vegas.

McIlroy and Scheffler will team up against DeChambeau and Koepka in a rare meeting of the PGA Tour and LIV GolfGetty

With McIlroy and world no.1 Scheffler still committed to the PGA Tour, the event has been touted as a grudge match between the two sides, as well as a possible thawing of relations as golf looks to reunite itself.

‘The Showdown’ is not an official product of LIV Golf or the PGA Tour, instead it will be hosted by Turner Sports as a made-for-TV event.

While the players will be given lucrative appearance fees, there is no prize money on offer.

And interestingly, one side appears far more happy to promote this event than the other.

The PGA Tour have so far completely declined to even acknowledge the event, while LIV Golf started putting its name to official promotional material when it was officially announced on Monday.

It certainly does not appear as though the PGA Tour was involved in the organisation of ‘The Showdown’ – which raises questions over whether McIlroy and Scheffler risk sanctions.

However, the timing of the event offers them both a convenient loophole, if indeed they went around the PGA Tour to take part.

LIV Golf rebels were not given conflicting event releases by the PGA Tour or the DP World Tour, which is what led to their suspensions and fines, and many would argue that is precisely what McIlroy and Scheffler are doing by competing in ‘The Showdown’.

But with the match scheduled for December 17, during the festive period, there is no conflicting PGA Tour event for the players to be released from.

Turner Sports must pay the PGA Tour to broadcast McIlroy and Scheffler as per an exclusivity clause in the Tour’s broadcast deal, but this is expected to be a formality, with similar deals taking place over ‘The Match’ – which regularly featured Tiger Woods.

LIV Golf are starting to take some ownership of ‘The Showdown’ while the PGA Tour have stayed silentLIV Golf

Anyone who has not kept up with golf’s power struggle might have to rub their eyes upon seeing McIlroy’s face on a LIV Golf advert.

But the Northern Irishman, formerly LIV Golf’s fiercest critic, has softened his stance in recent months.

He recently played alongside Yasir Al-Rumayyan – governor of the Saudi Public Investment Fund [PIF], who bankroll LIV Golf – at the Dunhill Links.

McIlroy’s new priority is bringing the game’s best players back together – and he makes no secret of his frustration at the slowness of negotiations between the PGA Tour and the PIF.

After years of bad blood which tore professional golf apart, the two warring parties announced a shock framework agreement to merge operations in June 2023.

But golf remains in a fractured state 16 months later after little-to-no progress.

Speaking recently, McIlroy suggested that small moments of crossover between the two rival tours was best thing fans could hope for in the immediate future.

McIlroy has been trying to build bridges between the PGA Tour and the SaudisGetty

“I’d say we’ll know by the end of the year whether that’s a possibility or not,” McIlroy told The Scotsman when asked about the PIF investing in PGA Tour Enterprises.

“But I think all tours are going to keep trucking along and doing their own thing for the foreseeable future, and I think the best thing we can maybe hope for is a bit of crossover between them.

“And then maybe while that is happening over that period of time – whether it be one year, two years, three years – just trying to figure out the rest.

“I think the hard thing is there are legal precedents that have been set in America and [Europe] and that makes it very different. That’s the big thing.

“No one likes lawyers – I certainly don’t – and, yeah, that’s a big part of the issue. I think there is a willingness there from all parties to try and get it to happen, but you’ve got tons of lawyers in the middle of it.”