Rory McIlroy calls out Charles Barkley after winning unique prize worth $10 million
The Showdown was guaranteed to have trash talk amongst the four competitors.
What wasn't guaranteed, but was also probably assumed, was that Charles Barkley would find his way into the mix, one way or another.
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Barkley on the broadcast, asked Rory McIlroy a simple question and was greeted with a clapback from the professional golfer.
"How much in a regular round do you eat?" Barkley asked McIlroy between holes, as he was eating a power bar.
"Not as much as you Chuck," McIlroy jokingly responded.
"Okay," Barkley laughed. "I'm on a diet."
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Harmless banter, but banter nonetheless.
McIlroy then backed up his talk by teaming up with Scottie Scheffler to take victory in the inaugural version of 'The Showdown'.
The PGA Tour stars claimed a dominant victory over LIV Golf rivals Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau.
The unique event marked the first time LIV Golf and PGA Tour stars have competed outside the majors and the Olympic Games.
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Such a quirky tournament also had a prize befitting of the occasion, with McIlroy and Scheffler winning $10million (£7.9m) in cryptocurrency.
After receiving his $5m (£3.9m) share, World No.1 Scheffler admitted: "I don't know a whole lot about crypto, but this is some good motivation to do some research! [I need to] figure out what is going on."
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"We're super happy to get the win. It's a nice way to finish the year," McIlroy said.
"Scottie and I got off to a pretty good start and then from there it was just about trying to keep the momentum."
"I'd love to have another opportunity," DeChambeau added. "It was a bit of a pillow fight for us."
LIV poached a lot of the PGA Tour's players back in 2021 when they came onto the scene, which caused a lot of tension and division in the sport.
Since then, a lot of the animosity has died down, as a merger has been announced to be in the works between the two entities.
"Ideally, I think the end goal here is to get the game of golf back together," Scheffler said ahead of the crossover clash.
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Ultimately, there was a lot on the line for the four golfers.
While competing with Barkley talking in your ear, probably isn't the easiest thing to do in the world, McIlroy showed everyone how it's done.
If Barkley is going to give, be sure to give it right back.
Mission accomplished McIlroy.
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