Optum Golf Channel Games Debut In Prime Time

A version of The Big Break returns, rebranded as the Optum Golf Channel Games, featuring two of the biggest names in golf , Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy, going head to head tonight, December 17, at 7 p.m. ET.

“Practice entails just trying to put Scottie Scheffler off — it’s the only way you can beat him,” McIlroy said during an interview on The Shotgun Start podcast. “I have not. I’m actually about to go to a production meeting, and Mark Lummis is bringing us through a run of show.”

Source: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4d9mVLWiiyU&list=PLjqqxh4N0xEYYLlhu7mVUox3FGHK23efq&index=1&pp=iAQB

Joining Scheffler will be Luke Clanton, Keegan Bradley, and Sam Burns. McIlroy’s team will include Shane Lowry, Luke Donald, and Haotong Li. Details of the games have been limited, but the event has been billed as a modernized version of Golf Channel’s hit reality show Big Break.

“I think there are a lot of time challenges,” McIlroy said. “I think it’s about showing how skillful elite professionals are — putting us in different spots and having us hit different shots. They’re putting a lot of production into it, so it could be quite entertaining.”

Events include:

• Timed drive competition: Players compete in head-to-head duels with two minutes on the clock, combining power and accuracy to launch drives into a scoring grid.
• Timed short-game competition: A combination of chipping and putting in which players hit shots from multiple locations around the green before tackling a putting gauntlet from varying distances — with just three minutes to complete both challenges.
• Fourteen-club challenge: Two teams of two players from each side square off in a closest-to-the-pin contest, drawing clubs from a single bag that includes a driver and putter. All 14 clubs will be used — seven shots per player, per side — and once a club is used, it’s out. Each team will also select a player to hit a left-handed 15th shot.
• Timed shootout: This four-player, alternate-shot challenge takes place on three holes, with players staged throughout each hole — one on the tee, one in the fairway, and two around the green. The lowest score in the shortest amount of time wins.
• Captain’s challenge: The final competition pits McIlroy and Scheffler head to head. Each will hit from predetermined locations, including iron shots from various distances, as well as wedge, pitch, bunker, greenside shots, a 30-foot putt, and a 10-foot putt.

Source: https://www.pgatour.com/article/news/latest/2025/12/16/how-to-watchoptum-golf-channel-games-format-teams-scottie-scheffler-rory-mcilroy-primetime-golf-competition-skills-challenge

“They asked us to hit left-handed — I think we pushed back on that a little bit,” McIlroy said.

The event also marks the first meeting between Ryder Cup captains Luke Donald and Keegan Bradley since Europe’s Ryder Cup victory in New York. The team-oriented competition takes place at Trump Jupiter Golf Club in Jupiter, Florida. The broadcast will air on Golf Channel and USA Network from 7–11 p.m. ET.