Woods emerges for TV match for Covid-19 relief efforts
THE purpose is to raise $10 million or more for Covid-19 relief efforts, and provide entertainment with four of the biggest stars from the PGA Tour and NFL.
Another appeal to the Sunday made-for-TV exhibition, “The Match: Champions for Charity,” is a chance to see Tiger Woods swing a golf club for the first time in 98 days.
Live golf is on television for the second straight Sunday, this one with the game’s biggest headliner.
Woods was last seen on television Feb. 16 at the Genesis Invitational, where he moved cautiously in California’s chilly late winter weather and posted weekend rounds of 76-77 to finish last among the 68 players who made the cut at Riviera.
He skipped a World Golf Championship in Mexico City, and said his surgically repaired back wasn’t quite ready in sitting out the opening three weeks of the Florida swing. And then the pandemic took over, and there has been no place to play.
This is a reasonable start. Woods and retired NFL quarterback Peyton Manning will face Phil Mickelson and Tom Brady, who won six Super Bowls with the New England Patriots and signed this year with Tampa Bay.
The match will be at Medalist Golf Club in Hobe Sound, Florida. It is Woods’ home course and about 20 minutes from Seminole, where last week Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson, Rickie Fowler and Matthew Wolff ushered golf’s return to live television.
What to make of Woods? His only interviews were with GolfTV, the Discovery-owned channel with whom Woods has a financial deal, and a playful Zoom call with the other match participants hosted by Ernie Johnson of Turner Sports, which is televising the match.
He described his health in the April 9 interview with GolfTV as “night and day.”
“I feel a lot better than I did then,” Woods said. “I’ve been able to turn a negative into a positive and been able to train a lot and get my body to where I think it should be.”
Mickelson has missed the cut in four of his five tournaments this year — the exception was third place at Pebble Beach, where he started the final round one shot behind Nick Taylor and closed with a 75.
Just like last week, rust is to be expected for players who haven’t competed in two months — three, in the case of Woods.
Manning, meanwhile, is retired and is a golf junkie. Brady remains employed, and this week got in some informal work with his new teammates in Tampa Bay.
No fans will be allowed, just like last week at Seminole. One difference is the players will be in their own carts, whereas the four PGA Tour players last week carried their bags.