By Dave Shedloski
In his first year as the head coach of the men’s and women’s golf programs at Howard University, which was also to be the school’s first in Division I, Sam Puryear didn’t get a chance to see his players compete, the fall season having been cancelled because of the ongoing pandemic.

Nevertheless, the year won’t be a total loss for his program and many others. In fact, Puryear expects it to end on a high note thanks to a golf event on the other side of the country.

Of great interest to Puryear and his players—and a lot of other college golfers—will be “Capital One’s The Match: Champions for Change,” which begins at 3 p.m. EST Friday on TNT. The entertainment value shouldn’t disappoint with a cast of Phil Mickelson, Charles Barkley, Stephen Curry and Peyton Manning competing at Stone Canyon Golf Club in Oro Valley, Ariz., outside of Tucson. The value to Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and on a larger scale to minority participation in golf, has equally promising potential.

Proceeds from this third rendition of the “The Match” franchise will predominantly benefit HBCUs, with most funds directed towards supporting golf and sports journalism programs. WarnerMedia, parent of TNT and presenter of the event, has earmarked donations to Morehouse College, Howard University, Alabama A&M, Hampton University and Winston-Salem State University. Other recipients, as selected by the players, include Grambling State, Jackson State, Lane College, Southern University and Tuskegee University.

“To know that the impetus is to help HBCUs is, to me, pretty incredible,” said Puryear, who played golf collegiately at Tennessee State University and coached at Stanford and Michigan State before taking over at Howard, located in Washington, D.C. “The [financial] support is one thing, but what I think could be more meaningful is the exposure, the chance to showcase our programs and our schools and to show how strong they are structurally and educationally, as well as athletically.”

“It’s fun for me to take the game that has given me so much and to open it up to all people and to help create opportunities to those that haven’t had the same opportunities that I have had,” Mickelson said in August at The Northern Trust. “All sports have been exclusionary over the years, and every sport is trying to be inclusive now, and that’s phenomenal. And golf is no different. We have had moments in our past that we’re probably … that we’re not proud of, and we’ve all made a real effort to create opportunities for all people.”

Curry, a three-time NBA champion with the Golden State Warriors, has had a head start on creating opportunities at Howard. Through his foundation, the golf enthusiast who has competed in a handful of Korn Ferry Tour events, recently committed an unspecified sum to support the golf program for six years as it moved from a Division II program to Division I. “Last year I had the incredible opportunity to play a small role in the rich history of Howard University through the game of golf,” Curry said in a statement. “I truly believe an investment in HBCUs is an investment in our future, and I am honored to have the opportunity to continue to support these great institutions.”

Jonathan Devich
Barkley says it’s important for minorities to learn to play golf so they can use it as a resource when they get into the working world. “It’s like a part of life skills. Listen, I’ve made so many deals on the golf course.”

Barkley, meanwhile, who has become a successful broadcaster for TNT following a Hall-of-Fame NBA career, is in the midst of a personal 10-year giving initiative that amounts to $1 million each for five HBCU schools in his native Alabama—Tuskegee, Alabama A&M, Clark Atlanta University, Miles University and Morehouse.

“I think the main thing is it’s very important because I want these kids to play golf, No. 1,” Barkley said. “If they can make it to the tour, that would be a blessing. But the main thing, when you go into the business world, you need to play golf. It’s like a part of life skills. Listen, I’ve made so many deals on the golf course. I mean, that’s amazing.”

Puryear couldn’t agree more with that assessment. But currently there are only about 30 golf programs at HBCUs. “Developing good players is a start, but attracting good players is important, too,” he said. “I think this could definitely help because right now there’s a lot of talent that is coming out of the HBCU schools, and young players need to know that their talent can be developed. A lot of times that’s just never heard about. All of a sudden, you can get some of your best minority players who go to HBCU schools.

“What I really hope, though, is that this would help spearhead the creation of new golf programs at other places while rejuvenating older golf programs.”

The Washington Post
Curry stepped up in 2019 to help fund the Howard men’s and women’s golf team for six years.

But again, the larger goal is to expose more college-age minorities to the game at a higher level, “so that they have an acclimation to what is, really, a corporate game, and help them segue into relationships and opportunities in corporate America,” Puryear said.

“I think it’s really important to the fabric of our country to grow the game at the collegiate level for minorities,” he added. “That isn’t hyperbole. I’m just speaking numbers here. These students need a place to go. And when they get to that place, in addition to a solid education, they need some of the best arenas, the training facilities and golf courses, the best coaches to compete with the majority of schools. I think what Steph and Phil and Charles and Peyton are doing is fantastic—not just while these kids are attending college, but what they might have the opportunity to do afterwards with their lives.”

The post New edition of ‘The Match’ is all about raising dollars and awareness for inclusion in golf appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Dave Shedloski
Having been out of the broadcasting game for more than a year, Gary McCord can be excused for not knowing some of the finer details of his latest assignment as an on-course reporter for “Capital One’s The Match: Champions for Change” this Friday on TNT. For instance, he wasn’t quite sure if the third iteration of the franchise was to be played over nine or 18 holes.

Then he decided it didn’t really matter. “What the hell, you know me. I’ll talk for as long as they want me to talk,” the always-engaging septuagenarian said via phone from his home in Scottsdale.

Twitter would not find this fact in dispute.

For 35 years McCord was a wise-cracking one-liner machine for CBS Sports’ golf coverage until the network decided late last year to not renew his contract (or that of colleague and Scottsdale sidekick Peter Kostis). It was a sensational run for the former PGA Tour player who won twice on the PGA Tour Champions but truly found his calling once he stepped up to a microphone.

“The Match III” features five-time major champion Phil Mickelson teamed with TNT NBA commentator and Hall of Famer Charles Barkley against three-time NBA champion Stephen Curry and former NFL quarterback Peyton Manning, a two-time Super Bowl winner. Proceeds primarily will benefit Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

The first edition of “The Match” was staged the day after Thanksgiving two years ago when Mickelson defeated longtime rival Tiger Woods at Shadow Creek in Las Vegas in a $9 million winner-take-all event. In May, Woods and Manning teamed up in a second edition, beating Mickelson and Tampa Bay quarterback Tom Brady at Medalist Club in Florida that raised money for COVID-19 relief.

McCord, 72, said the offer to work this event, which will be held within driving distance of his home at Stone Canyon Golf Club in Oro Valley, Ariz., “came way out of left field.” He agreed to participate for one simple reason. “Well, I’m doing OK, I’m not dead, but I am kind of bored,” he said. “I’ve had a year off, so … you know that whole deal. This should be entertaining.”

McCord still plays plenty of golf, mainly at Whisper Rock in Scottsdale, a haven for tour players and current and former athletes. But he can’t help but think his gift for gab should be the gift he keeps giving. McCord will co-host a one-hour program next year on SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio. He also is teaming with Kostis and a few others on another entertainment project that he is not yet at liberty to disclose. His role, naturally, is to be “the creative guy.”

Well, of course. And he will try to be as creative as possible on Friday when Mickelson and crew are not trash talking to one another.

“That’s what we’re waiting to hear,” McCord said. “You know Phil is going to be in the middle of it. I was texting Charles during the telecast in May [Barkley was part of the broadcast crew] and told him he nailed it when he said, ‘We all have that friend who’s annoying; that’s Phil.’ So my deal is to prompt Phil when Charles drives into the desert and then just let him go.

“I’m not there to tell you, ‘Wow, he’s got an 8-iron from 180 yards.’ I’m there to step into the chaos and keep it going. I can still do that. I can do that all day.”

The post Gary McCord knows his role as he returns to golf broadcasting: ‘I’m there to step into the chaos and keep it going’ appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Dave Shedloski
Who could forget Charles Barkley’s brutal assessment of the quality of golf Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson displayed in the first rendition of “The Match” two years ago in Las Vegas?

“This is crappy golf. Y’all know that,” the NBA Hall of Famer-turned-broadcaster drawled with his typical honesty to a pay-per-view television audience. “I could beat these two guys today.”

Welp, give Barkley credit for stepping from behind the microphone onto the tee box to bring to the franchise his own brand of golf—which through the years has been chronicled to be uniquely, um … oh, heck … crappy. On Friday, the Round Mound of Sound (nee Rebound) teams with Mickelson in “Capital One’s The Match: Champions For Change” at Stone Canyon Golf Club in Oro Valley, Ariz. Their opposition in the modified alternate shot competition is the duo of Stephen Curry, NBA All-Star, and Peyton Manning, retired NFL great.

“Obviously, I’m a golfing degenerate,” Barkley said with a chuckle during a telephone interview with Golf Digest.

And, obviously, he has no problem putting his game, such as it is, on display. Barkley, 57, is a regular competitor at the American Century Celebrity Golf Challenge. In July, he finished second-to-last in the 70-man field, scoring minus-68 points in the modified Stableford scoring format. (Curry, by the way, ended up fourth with 56 points.)

“Honest to God, I don’t know why he’s subjecting himself to this,” said Gary McCord, who will serve as an on-course reporter for the telecast, which begins at 3 p.m. EST on TNT. “He’s gone from talking about the chaos to stepping on the tee and creating chaos. He’ll be the agent of chaos in this thing, and it’s going to be really, really interesting.”

So, why is he doing it? “They invited me, and I couldn’t turn it down,” Barkley replied. “I was really flattered that they asked me.”

Christian Petersen
Barkley, along with actor Samuel L. Jackson, was part of the broadcast team for the original ‘The Match’ at Shadow Creek in 2018.

McCord, who plans to join Barkley on Tuesday for a practice round at Stone Canyon, said Barkley exhibits an acceptable level of proficiency away from prying eyes and cameras. “I’ve played with Chuck, and he’s OK,” the former tour player said. “The swing goes up, and the swing goes down. There’s no stopping. But he gets under pressure, there’s anxiety, and that hits him, and he gets to hitching on the downswing. Everything changes.”

Similar stories abound of Barkley showing decent form at the annual TNT cast and crew party he hosts at a Topgolf facility at the end of each NBA season.

Barkley intends to be ready for this latest public challenge. He said he has been practicing resolutely for months, “even before I got invited to the match.

“I have put the effort in, I put the work in, and I’m hoping I just can handle it under the pressure,” he said. “Let me just say this: I’m not bragging about it, but nobody has worked harder than me to be better at golf. I have hit balls five hours a day for the last six months. I just really wanted to get better at golf.

He credits former tour player/turned instructor Stan Utley with putting him on a path to enjoying the game again. “I met him at Tom Lehman’s golf tournament about two years ago, and he said, ‘Charles, can I work with you a little bit?’ I said, ‘Stan, I’ve done worked with every teacher in the land.’ And he says, ‘Well, one more won’t hurt.’ And let me tell you something, I have played better in the last year and a half than I played in the last 20 years. It’s fun for me to play again. It’s been amazing.”

Christian Petersen
Not all of Barkley’s swings, like this one from the American Century Reno-Tahoe event in July, are polished.

While flattered, Utley said he can’t take too much credit, having worked with Sir Charles only a few times. “I gave him hope,” Utley said. “No one is ever really fixed. When you work on the wrong thing for 20 years, you can’t just flip a switch. Every player has these neurological patterns programmed into them, and you cannot get rid of a neurological pattern. The good news is you can build a new pattern. That doesn’t mean the old pattern goes away. But with a lot of work, you can override it.

“I gave him something to work on, which is basically throwing the club from the top of the backswing with his wrists. It took about 40 minutes, and he got it. But I can only say I helped him a little. When he’s not hitching, he hits it well. He’s a big man. He’s so strong and can hit it really long if he does it right.”

If he does it right.

Preternaturally good-natured, Barkley takes his struggles—and the many barbs about his game—in stride. They’ve even come from his partner.

“I’m really appreciative of Charles Barkley, because Sir Charles is putting himself out there in front of the public in an area that he is not competent at all and taking all the hits,” Mickelson said. “I mean, that type of self-deprecation and ability to laugh at himself and put himself out there I have a lot of respect for. I’m honored to have him as my partner. I’m not overly optimistic about having him as my partner, but I do think we’re going to be able to come out on top. We’re going to find a way.”

More recently, he has been skewered in several match promos, and Manning said in one, “The only thing I can think about is, what will Charles not do?”

Well, there’s no telling. Barkley is sure of one thing, however.

“It’s definitely going to be fun,” he said. “I mean, as long as I don’t stink up the joint.”

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