The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Celebrity golfers’ talk Sunday was soggy, somewhat revealing
For all that the Match II was a lame artificial setup, a madefor-TV event between four branding titans, it had a strangely revealing charm. The audience learned things it didn’t know about Tiger Woods-Peyton Manning and Phil Mickelson-Tom Brady. Starting with the fact that Brady can find as many palmettos on a golf course as you or me, and rip his breeches just as badly in doing it.
The Match series originated as an experiment in new platforming and revenue, but the fact that Sunday’s foursome contest was for coronavirus charity gave it a playful tolerance, and that mattered. So did the presence of Charles Barkley and PGA champion Justin Thomas, who has a future with a microphone whenever he tires of winning majors. Celebrity golf, with its forced banter, can be painfully strained viewing, but there was something so laughably genuine about Brady’s plunge headfirst from his pedestal as a six-time Super Bowl champion — and about the crowing and teasing that came with it — that it was irresistible.
Turns out Tom Brady doesn’t trust himself to hit a driver any more than you do. Rain-soaked, water dripping off his cap, out of his element on the Medalist course and under intense mocking from Barkley and Brooks Koepka, who upped the stakes with a financial pledge of $100,000, he couldn’t find fairway. It was nothing but hardpan and sand hills.
The rains shorted out the microphones at times, which made for dead silences, especially given there were no crowds. And let’s face it: Cart-cam is not as thrilling as a Daytona in-car camera. Still, it was tremendously entertaining to listen to the one-upping asides, and to watch the interplay between four men who have been famously buttoned-up competitors and who normally save their exhibitionism for marketing campaigns. Manning turns out to be every bit as droll in person as he is in his commercials or his bits for ESPN, with a reflexive wit that is so opposite to the control-freakism with which he played football. “Pretty good putt, considering the crowd noise I was having to deal with,” Manning said at one point, cracking up his companions.
The amiable chemistry between Brady and Manning was an interesting sideshow. “Doing pretty good in the rain; I’m impressed,” Brady said of Manning. “He’s more of a dome quarterback.”
As for real golfers, it was hard to tell much about the state of their games. You did learn Woods’ tricky back was solid enough to hit every fairway, and to beat Mickelson one-up on a challenging layout. But because the Medalist is also Woods’ home course, it’s probably best not to make too much of that. More interestingly you learned that even in a goofy situation, Woods remains a fairly laconic and methodical personality.
Mickelson, on the other hand: You hadn’t ever seen quite this much effusiveness from him. His ability to explain and instruct the game — and his clear enthusiasm for doing it — led to the highlight of the entire event.