Time to strike the ‘Match’
Woods, Mickelson return for another made-for-TV duel, bringing Manning and Brady along for the ride
The first made-for-TV match between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, held the day after Thanksgiving in 2018, was more or less a massive turkey. Many viewers encountered technical issues with the pay-per-view streaming broadcast, and eventually Turner Sports simply made it free for everyone. The promised trash talk and on-course wagering between the two golfers never really materialized. And “The Match” itself went on forever, with Mickelson finally winning it in the near-dark on the 22nd hole.
On Sunday, Woods and Mickelson will renew their rivalry with “The
Match: Champions for Charity.” And this time, they’re bringing some high-wattage (if amateur) star power with them. Woods will team with former NFL quarterback Peyton Manning, while Mickelson will partner with six-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady in a match to benefit coronavirus-relief charities.
When: Sunday, 3 p.m. Eastern.
Where: Medalist Golf Club, Hobe Sound. Fla. Medalist is Woods’s home club, so he and Manning could have a bit of an edge in terms of course familiarity. Mickelson never has played the course, though he said this week that he “can’t wait to go to Tiger’s place and take him down.”
TV: TNT, TBS, truTV and HLN.
Format: Match play, with a fourball format for the front nine - everyone plays all their shots, and the team with the player who has the best score wins the hole - and a modified alternate-shot format for the back nine. For the front nine, where each of the four golfers will hit all of their shots, Manning and Brady will be given one handicap stroke each on holes No. 3, 6 and 8 (one par 3, one par 4, one par 5). The quarterbacks also will be teeing off from farther up in the tee box than the PGA Tour pros. On the back nine, all four golfers will tee off, with each team choosing the best shot to play and alternating from there.
At stake: At least $10 million for coronavirus relief efforts from the golfers and sponsors, with likely more added throughout the day. According to the PGA Tour, the match will be played under tour rules that prohibit participants from gambling on the match.
However, the tour allowed side bets during the first Woods-Mickelson match if all the proceeds went to charity, and the pair wagered $800,000 on five side wagers.
Are Manning and Brady any good at golf?: Manning is listed as a 6.4 handicap while Brady has an 8.1. (The lower the number, the better, and anyone with a single-digit handicap usually is pretty good.)
Odds: As of Thursday, DraftKings listed Woods/Manning as -186 favorites (wager $186 to win $100). Mickelson and Brady were +160 underdogs (wager $100 to win $160).
Anything else?: Charles Barkley, who will be providing commentary for Turner Sports, will show off his haltingly spastic swing on one hole Sunday. Should he card bogey or better, $200,000 will be added to the money donated to charity.
Barkley also helped call the first “Match” back in 2018 and complained about the quality of the golf he was watching. On Wednesday, Yahoo reported that Woods, Manning, Mickelson and Brady all will use only one club on Medalist’s fifth hole, a short par 4 that features the course’s narrowest fairway and water down the left side on approach shots.