ORLANDO, Fla. - Davis Love III and his son Dru played so well Sunday that they set two scoring records, rallied from a three-shot deficit to win the PNC Father-Son Challenge and then wondered if they would get to play again.

Team Love shot 27 on the front nine at The Ritz-Carlton Golf Club to get in the mix, took the lead with a birdie at No. 11 and finished off their record round with four more birdies an eagle for a 16-under 56, breaking the 18-hole record in a scramble format by one stroke.

They won by three shots at 26-under 118, another record in the scramble format.

''Who knows? This might be our last time playing, so it was fun to finish it off,'' Love said.

The 36-hole event is for players who have won a major or The Players Championship, and their partner cannot hold a PGA Tour-sanctioned card. Dru Love has played 17 times in the last two years on the PGA Tour, European Tour and Web.com Tour, but he has yet to earn a card and missed out in the qualifying tournament this year.

Full-field scores from the PNC Father/Son Challenge

They were unstoppable in Sunday's second and final round, making only four pars and the rest birdies and two eagles.

The 56 beat the record previously held by Raymond and Raymond Floyd Jr. in 1994 and by Bob and David Charles in 1998 by one. They finished at 26-under 118, breaking the scramble record by a shot most recently set last year by Angel and Angel Cabrera Jr.

John and Little John Daly, who opened with a 59, shot 62 and tied for second with Retief and Leo Goosen and Stewart and Connor Cink.

''He's been very competitive this week,'' Love said of his son. ''After a slow start yesterday, it's nice to get it going and get another win. He carried me all the way through this one. He played great. It was fun to watch him hit so many good shots and make so many putts. I didn't have to putt much today, which was nice.''

Team Love also won the event in 2012.

Dru Love last played on the PGA Tour last month in the RSM Classic at Sea Island. He tied for 54th, finishing just ahead of his father for the second time in 13 tour events they have played together.

''Winning a tournament with our dad is more special than trying to beat him,'' Dru Love said.

David and Carter Toms finished alone in fifth, while Jack Nicklaus made another big putt at the end, good for a 64 as he and grandson GT Nicklaus finished sixth.

The first clue that golf’s initial foray into pay-per-view would be different was this opening salvo from – ahem – Samuel L. Jackson.

“It’s golf, man,” the actor and Capital One pitchman said dismissively, just minutes into the pregame show for the highly anticipated duel between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. “How excited can you be?”

Viewers likely were left with the same impression of The Match, a 4-hour, 56-minute made-for-TV event that included a Mickelson victory, a few vintage shots, garrulous broadcasters, heavy mouth-breathing, cheesy conversation starters, a gimmicky playoff format, a few innovations and, surprisingly, even less trash talk.

Perhaps it shouldn’t have been a surprise that this first clash of the titans was clumsy, because it’s been that way from the outset. Originally intended for July 4, it’d take three more months before the deal was finalized. And once it was, some of the details were off-putting, from the price ($19.99), to the exclusivity of the event at glamorous Shadow Creek in Las Vegas (limited to a few hundred VIPs), to the minuscule charity component (side bets only) for two living legends who have a combined net worth of more than $1 billion.

The rollout Friday was just as sloppy. After months of social-media kvetching that the 18-hole match would be pay-per-view only, Turner executives decided to allow free streaming of the event after the purchase function on the Bleacher Report Live platform failed. Those who stuck around were treated to some lackluster play and a broadcast that was alternately cringe-worthy and suspenseful. Billed as a spectacle, The Match ultimately devolved into two aging warriors who battled for 22 holes, the last three under the lights on a makeshift, 93-yard hole that was only missing a windmill.

“I just want America to know this has been some awful golf,” the always blunt Charles Barkley said at one point. “This is some crappy golf.”

The entertainment value wasn’t much better.

Click here for social media reaction to The Match

After promising an uncensored look inside their (one-sided) rivalry, both Woods and Mickelson seemed overly aware that they were mic’d for sound. They didn’t need to put on an expletive-laden show to be compelling, of course, but the game’s preeminent needlers were so tame that this match could have been shown on PBS. In fact, they almost seemed as if they ran out of things to say by the time they walked up the first fairway (“Speaking of cool …” Tiger painfully segued), so they didn’t see much of each other the rest of the way. Woods mostly kept to himself, lost in the competition; on many holes Mickelson chatted up PGA Tour rules czar Mark Russell or simply sounded out of breath.

Even Mickelson admitted that they’d probably strayed from the event’s identity.

“I’m trying to be more talkative,” he said, “but I’m just not this back nine.”

“No, I understand,” Woods said. “We got back into our old mode of trying to beat each other’s brains in.”

With four hours of airtime to fill, and two participants who were grinding harder than anticipated, the broadcast teams (Ernie Johnson, Peter Jacobsen, Darren Clarke and Shane Bacon; host Adam Lefkoe, Pat Perez, Barkley and Jackson) felt compelled to talk … and talk … and talk, oftentimes at the expense of viewers who wanted to eavesdrop on precious player-caddie conversations. The more seasoned members of the crew should have known the power of laying out.

Granted, they didn’t miss much. Mickelson woofed in the pre-match presser that he had a few tricks to get under Woods’ skin, but for some reason he didn’t employ them Friday. He had some golden opportunities to stick it to his longtime rival early, including after Woods’ 3 ½-foot par miss on the second hole, but Mickelson cheerily strode to the next tee and later praised Woods’ iron game. Woods, too, could have stepped in to provide some much-needed levity, after Mickelson left his 10-footer short on 5. But not a peep.

One of the only lively exchanges came on the seventh hole, when Mickelson, about 40 yards shorter off the tee, asked for 3-2 odds on a $100,000 side bet for low score on the par 5. The notoriously frugal Woods didn’t bite.

“I want to see some more smack; I want to see some more betting,” Perez complained.

The handful of side bets they had were predictable: closest-to-the-pin contests on par 3s and a long-drive contest on a par 5, leading to some forced interactions. Once the match got tight late, neither Mickelson nor Woods issued a challenge or attempted to use any mind tricks on their opponent. For players with their extreme wealth, it seemed strange to have so few wagers. It felt like a regular match, not some game-changing entertainment product that will supposedly put regular-season PGA Tour events on notice.

The telecast incorporated a few interesting elements, including drone shots, roaming cameras and live odds after holes were completed, but some of the ShotTracer flights appeared as though they were drawn by hand, and there was no TrackMan data to show viewers clubhead or ball speed.

The end felt gimmicky, too: Rather than play the par-5 18th over and over again, tournament organizers set up a 93-yard par 3, under the lights, off the practice putting green, the lies so tight that Woods teed up a lob wedge. It eventually set up a winning moment that can be neatly used in highlight packages – Mickelson knocking in a 4-footer on the fourth extra hole – but the execution was awkward, with a long wait to cut a new cup on the 18th green, a hole yardage the players would never practice, and generous concessions that evoked memories of the 2003 Presidents Cup.

“I’m just trying to calm down,” Mickelson said afterward, standing in front of the $9 million in cold, hard cash. “My heart can’t take much more.”

Click here for a photo gallery from The Match

The ultimate measure of success for this event will be how many people paid for the $19.99 PPV or streamed the event online (to their surprise, for free). Made-for-television matches are nothing new, from Challenge Golf to the Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf series to the Skins Game to Monday Night Golf. But even with Woods as the face of the Monday Night franchise, those events lost their appeal and disappeared from the silly-season landscape.

Sure, The Match had some promising moments – namely the mic’ing up of players, a mysterious and exclusive host venue, and as dramatic of a conclusion as you’d hope for between two players with more than $200 million in on-course earnings – but the challenge moving forward will be finding any combination of stars that once again is worth the price of the pay-per-view.

Do Tiger and Phil continue to compete against each other, even as their skills decay?

Do they team up to face off against bash brothers Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka, or some other formidable duo?

Do they add undercard matches – Jordan Spieth vs. Patrick Reed! – to help fill some of the airtime?

To Samuel L. Jackson’s point on a golf PPV: How excited can you be?

Those are questions for Woods and Mickelson to answer, because this wasn’t just some one-off in Sin City. This was supposed to be the start of something much more enduring, but it’s not yet clear if The Match has staying power.

Justin Rose returns to No. 1, Bryson DeChambeau picks up where he left off, the LPGA Q-Series shakes up college golf and more in this week’s edition of Monday Scramble:

The revolving door at world No. 1 continued to spin this week, as Justin Rose ascended to the top spot when he defended his title at the Turkish Airlines Open.

Rose might not win as often as Dustin Johnson, or perform in the majors as well as Brooks Koepka, but his consistency is unquestioned: In the past 52 weeks, he has finished in the top 10 in 18 of his 25 starts. That’s an absurd 72 percent, far better than any other player in that span.

And that, of course, is the purpose of the world rankings – to identify the best, most consistent player over a two-year window. It’s hard to argue with his results.

At age 38, he might not be a fixture in the top spot for years to come, but Rose is hitting his stride and playing the best golf of his career. A well-deserved No. 1, no doubt.   

1. Rose’s initial ascension to No. 1 two months ago at the BMW Championship was a little awkward, after he lost in a playoff to Keegan Bradley.

But after prevailing in Turkey, Rose said: “Maybe this is even sweeter this time.”

Rose erased a three-shot deficit to Haotong Li during the final round and won on the first playoff hole.

2. It wasn’t without a little help.

Rose missed several putts down the stretch, going bogey-bogey on the final two holes to open the door for Li, the talented Chinese star and 54-hole leader.

But Li squandered his own opportunities. After a stunning eagle on 15, Li three-putted the 72nd hole, then missed low with his 12-footer to win in the playoff and badly shoved his 3-foot comebacker for par.

Rose grimaced and shook his head, disappointed to have won in that manner. He opened his arms and embraced Li, then afterward spoke graciously of the playoff loser.   

3. Rose is fast becoming the king of the fall.

The past two years, from the start of the FedExCup Playoffs until the end of the calendar year, here are his results:

• 17 starts
• 16 top-10s
• 4 wins
• 68.0 scoring average

4. It’s never just about the golf with Bryson DeChambeau – it’s often more about the methods and the madness that accompany it – but that's not reason to overlook his world-class game.

In perfect weather in Las Vegas, DeChambeau fired four consecutive rounds of 66 or better to win by one over defending champion Patrick Cantlay.

DeChambeau’s ball-striking stats were nearly flawless: first in strokes gained: tee to green, third approaching the green, sixth off the tee.

And here was a guy just trying to “knock off the rust" while playing his first stroke-play event since the Tour Championship on Sept. 23.

5. This was DeChambeau’s fifth career Tour win, and his fourth in the past five months.

Five career wins. That’s one more than Rickie Fowler has managed in his entire PGA Tour career (214 starts).

Hmmm.

6. And this is how you win a tournament – by holing a 60-footer for eagle on the 70th hole, to break away from the pack:

7. The biggest takeaway from the recently completed LPGA Q-Series was how many college players advanced.

A whopping seven earned a full LPGA card for the upcoming 2019 season, with three others securing at least some Symetra status for next year.

There are some big names who got through, too: NCAA individual champion Jennifer Kupcho (Wake Forest), reigning Annika Award winner Maria Fassi (Arkansas) and U.S. Women’s Amateur champ Kristen Gillman (Alabama).

The top 5 players in the season-ending Golfweek/Sagarin college rankings earned an automatic invitation to the Q-Series finals, and four of those five players took advantage to earn their full card.

8. That last part has created some controversy, because it will have a significant impact on the best college teams.

Alabama will be completely decimated this spring, losing not only Gillman but also last year’s No. 1 player, Lauren Stephenson. Now without four of their starters from last season’s squad that advanced to the NCAA championship match, the Tide, unfortunately, will struggle just to make it out of regionals.

UCLA will lose senior Lilia Vu to the pros, but likely will retain the services of star sophomore Patty Tavatanakit, who only secured Symetra status.

Kupcho and Fassi are the only players who have said that they will defer LPGA membership until after NCAAs in late May, but that, too, comes with risk – they’ll have roughly eight to 10 fewer starts to retain their card for 2020. And if they fail to do so, you can bet that no one will take that option next fall.

9. DeChambeau turned heads last week when he said that he intends to putt with the flagstick in, starting at Kapalua.

It’ll be within the rules, beginning in 2019, and DeChambeau says he’s simply trying to use them to his advantage.

And he should, if he believes it’ll increase his chances of holing putts. Good for him.

But it could be strange, if he is putting with the flagstick in while the rest of his playing partners opt to keep it out. That’s not only weird, optically, but it could cause even more pace-of-play issues, since the governing bodies will also allow players to tap down spike marks and continue to use at least some green-reading materials.

Wonder if the pro tours will enact a local rule to keep the flag out on the greens.  

How real is the pressure of the LPGA Q-Series?

Apparently enough for a player’s mother to cheat.

Doris Chen, a former NCAA individual champion, was trying to finish inside the top 45 and secure LPGA status for next season when she pumped a drive out of bounds during the seventh of eight qualifying rounds at Pinehurst. Except she found her ball still in play, after her mother moved it from a homeowner’s backyard and back into the rough, according to colleague Randall Mell.

The homeowner spotted the infraction and notified the LPGA rules staff, and Chen, who (perhaps unwittingly) played the ball from the new spot – a violation of Rule 15-3b – was disqualified.

If it's true that Chen's mother moved the ball, she should be banned from attending events. Simple as that.

This week's award winners .  

Thank You Very Much: Nasa Hataoka. The 19-year-old from Japan capitalized on Minjee Lee’s final-day collapse (78), firing a closing 68 to win by two in her home country. It’s her second LPGA title of the season.

Still In Front: Francesco Molinari. The Open champ took off the Turkey event but maintained his position atop the season-long Race to Dubai standings with two events remaining. He has more than a million-point lead over Tommy Fleetwood. Rose is now third.

Such a Bryson Story: Vegas Golden Knights game. Imagine that, Bryson too energetically rang the siren at the local NHL game and ripped off a piece of his hand.

A Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Day: Peter Uihlein. Tied for the 54-hole lead as he looks for that long-awaited Tour breakthrough, Uihlein threw up a 75 on a day when everyone was taking it deep. He tumbled all the way into a tie for 23rd. Woof.

Well, At Least That Box Is Checked: Jordan Spieth. Making his 2018-19 debut (and pleasing Tour officials who made him add two starts to his schedule, after failing to fulfill the strength-of-schedule requirement), Spieth tied for 55th in Vegas. The rust was apparent: Of the 74 players who made the cut, he ranked 73rd in strokes gained: off the tee. With a new Titleist driver and 3-wood in the bag, he said he’ll switch back to his old models until his new gear is dialed in.  

Boom or Bust: Martin Kaymer. It’s been a tough season for the two-time major champion, but for all of his missed cuts (12 in 25 starts), he’s still managed three top-8 finishes since May. He tied for fifth in Turkey.

Clutch: Norman Xiong. The 19-year-old – whom your trusty correspondent profiled a few months ago, under the headline "The Next Big Thing” – birdied his final hole to advance to the final stage of Web.com Tour Q-School, guaranteeing him at least some status next year on the developmental circuit. Second stage is the biggest barrier for any Tour hopeful – it is the make-or-break moment, the difference between playing on the Web for a year or grinding on the mini-tours – and it was a relief to see Xiong push through.  

Blown Fantasy Pick of the Week: Tony Finau. Fresh off a playoff loss in China, perhaps it was too much to expect the big-hitting Finau to contend halfway across the world. He shot four rounds in the 60s, but he was unable to build on his strong record at TPC Summerlin (three top-20s in four starts) and tied for 36th.