Rory McIlroy is set to come up against ten LIV golfers this weekend at the Dubai Desert Classic.
The Hollywood man was involved in a heated incident with Patrick Reed on the practice area at the Emirates Golf Club on Tuesday.
The American allegedly threw a tee at McIlroy after the world number one failed to acknowledge his rival ahead of the tournament, which starts on Thursday.
READ MORE: Patrick Reed throws tee at Rory McIlroy in anger after alleged snub
Reed and seven other LIV golfers are scheduled to play in the tournament, which has a purse of over €7.5million.
2018 Masters champion Reed will be joined by other LIV players Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood, Henrik Stenson, Adrian Otaegui, Bernd Wiesberger, Sam Horsfield, Richard Bland, Shaun Norris and Abraham Ancer.
Axed LIV golfers Oliver Bekker, Pablo Larrazabal, Justin Harding, Hennie Du Plessis, JC Ritchie will also play in the tournament.
Reed is permitted to play DP World Tour events until an arbitration case in the UK in two weeks decides on the Tour’s ability to suspend the LIV Golf rebels.
Reed had a defamation case against analyst Brandel Chamblee and the Golf Channel dismissed on Friday by a federal judge in Florida.
McIlroy has admitted in the past that he feels 'uncomfortable' over the presence of LIV Golf stars playing on the DP World Tour.
"I hate what it's doing to the game of golf. I hate it. I really do," McIlroy said last summer. "Like it's going to be hard for me to stomach going to Wentworth in a couple of weeks' time and seeing 18 of them there. That just doesn't sit right with me.
"So yeah, I feel strongly. I believe what I'm saying are the right things, and I think when you believe that what you're saying is the right things, you're happy to stick your neck out on the line.”
Another Irish ace Shane Lowry has also spoken of his struggles with the civil war that has been threatening to rip the game apart.
“Anybody that knows me I don't like confrontation or any of that stuff," Lowry said last year. “I'll say hello and do my thing. That's the way I'll be.
"But yeah there are certain lads that I shake hands with and certain hands I wouldn’t.”
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