JUPITER — Shane Lowry could not help himself.

The Irishman got off to a rough start at the Golf Channel Games — the made-for-TV, silly-season, (unconventional) skills competition held at Trump National Jupiter — sending his first four shots during the driving competition everywhere but in play.

At one point, the fans attempted to give Lowry the Bethpage Black treatment. Except the boos and trash talk fell a bit short of what Lowry experienced at the Ryder Cup in September.

"A little bit like New York," Lowry said, sarcastically.

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Two four-player teams captained by the top two golfers in the world — No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and No. 2 Rory McIlroy — got together for an event billed as a combination of the NFL Combine, NBA 3-point competition and MLB Home Run Derby.

But at times this was more like Steph Curry trying to make a 3-pointer with a medicine ball. Or Aaron Judge having to hit the ball on the run.

"We tried something new," said McIlroy, whose team included Lowry, Luke Donald and Haotong Li. "And sometimes when you try something new it doesn't work out.

"But I think this one really did. I think the biggest thing is all the players were into it. It was fun. It was a different format, a lot more interaction between the players as opposed to traditional golf. So, yeah, overall it was an awesome night."

Team Scottie defeats Team Rory

For those keeping score at home, Team Scottie, which included Keegan Bradley, Sam Burns and Luke Clanton, defeated Team Rory. With the score tied after the five competitions, the event came down to one chip from just inside 50 yards between the captains.

And even then it took two measurements to determine Scheffler's chip was two inches closer to the pin than McIlroy's at 5-feet, 5-inches.

And once Scheffler was determined the winner, Lowry picked up his ball and tossed it onto the lake.

"I thought I got him," McIlroy said. "It looked like from back there that he was a little further away."

McIlroy dominated Scheffler in the Captain's Challenge — the two players hit 10 shots from predetermined spots on the course starting at 200 yards to a 15-foot putt — to force the playoff. And he raised his arms after Scheffler's chip stopped rolling, thinking he was closer.

"That's what people want," McIlroy said. "They want to see the best players in the world go up against each other, whether it's playing or in a skills challenge or whatever. So for a Wednesday night in December, I think this was pretty good for golf."

The night started with laughs on the range during the driving competition — even McIlroy was doubled over and laughing after Lowrey struggled to keep his ball in play — and continued through the final measurement.

Shane Lowry's putting, team relay and other highlights

• During the putting competition, which pitted Lowry against Scheffler, Lowery had a message for his opponent as he approached the first of his nine putts: "C'mon, Scottie, do your worst." It worked, as Lowry won the competition.
• In the team relay, a timed event with one player hitting the tee shot, another in the fairway and two on the green, Lowry hit a poor second shot that landed short of the green. Li was on the green awaiting the ball before realizing he had to hustle to get to Lowry's shot. "Run my lovely Chinaman," Lowry said.
• Bradley's drive during the team relay was headed straight for teammate Burns, except Burns, standing in the fairway ready to hit the next shot, could not see the ball looking back into the bright lights. "It's coming at you, Sam," Bradley said (players were equipped with earbuds to communicate with each other). Lowry then showed some concern for a member of the other team. "Literally, it's coming right at you," he warned Burns.
• Scheffler was rushing to hit a 10-foot putt during the team relay when he stopped in his backswing. "Keegan was yelling at me," he said after the miss. "He made me stop. What are you yelling at me for?"
• The 14-club challenge pitted two players from each team in a closest-to-the-pin competition from two different spots in the fairway. The catch, they had to use all 14 clubs between them, with the clubs being taken out of the bag as they were hit.

That resulted in putters and drivers being hit from 150 yards. And a lot of balls in the water. And a lot of trash talk.

"We have the core audience, which is great, and we know who they are and we know what they like," McIlroy said. "But to try to bring a few more people around or bring a few more people in under the tent, do stuff like this where you make it a little more fun.

"You look at what YouTube golf's done and you see the amount of people that watch that and enjoy that. This is sort of a hybrid of that. I certainly, I think there's a place for it."

Tom D'Angelo is a senior sports columnist and reporter for The Palm Beach Post. He can be reached at tdangelo@pbpost.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy chip off decides Golf Channel Games