By Daniel Rapaport
Even Super Bowl MVPs hit snap hooks. Tom Brady and Peyton Manning made that abundantly clear on the first tee at Medalist on Sunday, both smothering their opening tee shots of Capital One’s The Match: Champions for Charity into the left junk.

Tone, set. This wasn’t going to be your usual Sunday golf broadcast of flushed shots and vanilla commentary. This was Brady and Manning and Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods, and they played a two-on-two match to raise money to fight a global pandemic, talking trash the entire way. Brady couldn’t hit the side of a barn early, and it poured the entire day, and no one took anything too seriously.

It was lovely. A mess, for sure, but a lovely mess. In the end, Woods and Manning reigned supreme on a wet afternoon in South Florida, building a lead in the best-ball portion of the competition and holding on in alternate shot for a 1-up victory. Of course, the real winner on the day—calling the cliché police—was charity, with The Match raising $20 million for COVID-19 relief.

Well, two winners: charity, and those of us who tuned in to the delightfully self-aware broadcast. Organisers clearly learned their lesson from the first time Woods and Mickelson squared off, 18 months ago in Las Vegas, because this sequel beat the original, 6 and 5. Here are six reasons why.

The back-nine intensity
At the turn, Woods and Manning were 3 up. Brady couldn’t find the clubface, Mickelson kept missing greens and it looked like modified alternate shot might devolve into absolute-disaster territory.

But we should know better than to count out Tom Brady. (And Phil Mickelson).

After some comically loose play on the front nine, the match picked up in terms of intensity and quality as the light faded from Medalist. Somehow, the alternate-shot format brought out the best in Brady. After Mickelson drove the green on the par-4 11th, Brady holed the eagle putt to cut their deficit to 2 down. Manning then missed a three-footer for par on 14 and suddenly, he and Woods were just 1 up. Brady and Mickelson stuck their approaches on the par-3 16th inside 10 feet, only for Manning to answer with a dart to three feet and a birdie of his own.

Mike Ehrmann

From then, it was a race to the finish, all four men going peddle-to-the-meddle in their souped-up carts to try to squeeze the round in before sunset. The buddy-buddy stuff faded as it got to crunch time—these are four of the more competitive people on earth—with Phil and Tiger essentially caddieing for their amateur partners, telling them what clubs to hit and where to aim and how a putt should break. No matter the competition, no matter the format, there comes a point where Tiger and Phil remember how bad they want to beat each other.

Mike Ehrmann

Tiger hardly missed a shot
Somewhat lost in all this was the fact that this was Woods’ first televised round of golf since mid-February at Riviera. After that, he pulled out of a bunch of tournaments—including, concerningly, the Players Championship—to rest a sore back. His health was a legitimate question mark as Augusta inched closer. Then the world stopped, and Woods suddenly had a three-month break to get his body back to speed before this.

Here’s the unfortunate reality of these made-for-TV exhibitions: There’s nothing you can do if the pros play terrible. There aren’t other golfers to show. There’s nothing to fill the awkward silences. This was an issue at the first Match, when both Woods and Mickelson played aggressively average. Lucky for us, Woods was anything but average on Sunday.

He hardly missed a shot all day. Like, maybe one. He flushed his irons, and his short game was sharp. But particularly encouraging was his success with the driver, which he controlled with ease. Perhaps we should have expected all this, given Medalist is his home course—he and Phil were playing from the Tiger Tees, and that’s the official name—and Woods was able to buzz around in a cart, which is his preference in casual rounds. Still, Tiger looked healthy and sharp, absolutely swinging it well enough to be a factor when the PGA Tour resumes in a couple weeks. All of a sudden, Augusta can’t come soon enough.

The Tom Brady saga

Mike Ehrmann

Brady, purportedly an 8-ish handicap, played miserably for most of the round. If we were counting them all, he might not have broken 100. His first shot of the day resulted in a lost ball, his approach on the second hole found the water (and he had no idea how to take a routine drop from the penalty area), and both tee shots were foul balls on 3. By the fourth hole, he was asking Charles Barkley for swing advice. That’s lower than low. It was so bleak that Brooks Koepka, also a Medalist member, tweeted that he’d contribute $50,000 to the relief effort if Brady could make a par on the front nine.

And then, out of nowhere, Brady holed out from the fairway on 7 for a most unlikely birdie. For the first time all afternoon, he could talk some smack of his own.

In that moment, Tom Brady—he of six Super Bowl victories and four MVPs and the supermodel wife—was so profoundly relatable. We’ve all been there. You’re playing terribly, you’re the brunt of every joke all day, and then something good happens so you start running your mouth. There was comfort in knowing that no one, not even Tom Brady, is immune from embarrassment on the golf course.

Mike Ehrmann

For good measure, Brady also managed to rip his pants in the worst spot possible, roll in a winning eagle putt in alternate shot and stick a clutch approach to four feet on 16. It wasn’t quite coming back from 28-3 in the Super Bowl, but it was certainly an eventful Sunday.

Justin Thomas rocks the mic
Justin Thomas, the fourth-ranked golfer in the world and himself a member at Medalist, had quite a successful broadcast debut. He’s proved to be a natural—insightful and informative, funny and self-deprecating, all while remembering the golden rule of announcing: less is more. He gave local knowledge, and he told some great stories from partnering with “Mr. Eldrick” at the Presidents Cup.

Thomas also facilitated the best exchange of the broadcast when he asked Mickelson to walk us through his thought process on a chip on the second hole. Mickelson, true to form, relished the opportunity to talk and then nipped a spinner to tap-in range. It was a fascinating peek into the mind of an all-time short-game artist, and it’s also the type of thing the first Tiger-Phil (and last week’s match at Seminole) was missing. Give golf fans the choice of corny trash-talk or legends walking you through their shots, and they’ll choose the tutorials every time.

Thomas wasn’t the only bright spot on the broadcast—Turner struck the right balance all afternoon. They didn’t force betting statistics down our throats as was the case at Shadow Creek. They let Charles Barkley be Charles Barkley (“JT, you can’t call me fat on TV” and “Tiger’s tee shot was like me, in that we are both black”). And their decision to have the four participants plugged into the broadcast paid off, with the in-studio hosts able to seamlessly communicate with the players, and vice versa, giving the broadcast an interactive feel.

Peyton Manning can do little wrong
Call it what you want—charisma, a magnetic personality—but some people simply have it. Peyton Manning is one of those people. It’s no wonder he’s been the commercial king of the past decade, and that networks want him in the broadcast booth so badly. He’s just really funny, and he’s a joy to listen to, and the broadcast did a great job of letting him riff aimlessly.

Mike Ehrmann

He also played much, much better than his rival QB. Apart from a few loose swings early and one missed four-footer for par—which Eli would have never missed, according to Brady—Peyton played steady, birdieing his own ball for a win on 4 and sticking back-to-back approaches off Tiger’s tee balls in the alternate shot. He hit the two most clutch shots of the day: a mid-iron to three feet on 16 when Mickelson and Brady were both in tight, and an approach safely on the green on 18 to all but seal the victory. One has to think The Sherriff played his way into some people’s Dream Foursomes today.

It poured, but Medalist shined
It’s not quite Seminole on the secrecy spectrum, but this was the first time in two decades that Medalist had been spotlighted on a national broadcast. It was ready for its closeup. It’s no wonder the club has emerged as an enclave for the world’s best players—the course looked fantastic. Driveable par 4s, reachable par 5s, tasty par 3s. Holes that turn left and holes that turn right. Well-placed bunkers and visually pleasing shrubbery. Florida golf may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but Medalist managed to shine on a sunless day. A fitting venue for an irresistibly fun afternoon. You couldn’t rain on this parade.

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As both golf legends have said numerous times in the past couple years, all Tiger has to do is say “Big picture”—a reference to his three times as many majors and nearly twice as many PGA Tour wins—to get a leg up on Mr. Calves. But during The Match Part II, Woods was able to focus on one major in particular to deliver the dagger of the day.

After Mickelson asked Woods to mark his golf ball before hitting his approach shot on the fifth hole, Tiger gave the perfect response:

“Do you want me to use one of my U.S. Open medals?”

Boom. Roasted.

In case you don’t get the joke or are just in a Memorial Day Weekend haze, Woods was referring to the fact that Mickelson has never won a U.S. Open, finishing runner-up a record six times. Meanwhile, Woods has won the tournament three times. Again, “Big Picture.”

Anyway, here was the exchange that even had Charles Barkley howling in the booth:

Phil’s never won a US Open, so Tiger offered to let him borrow some of his hardware ?

Watch #CapitalOnesTheMatch now on TNT pic.twitter.com/joxbt0bf6c

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 24, 2020

To Phil’s credit, he took it well. At least, until he cries himself to sleep tonight.

The post Tiger Woods hit Phil Mickelson with the best jab of The Match appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Brian Wacker
Seminole and Medalist are separated by less than 20 miles on South Florida’s east coast, linked by U.S. 1, a busy four-lane road that stretches north and south, spans the Intracoastal Waterway and speeds past low-slung strip malls, nature preserves and condo developments. But when it comes to the membership, vibe and golf course, the two enclaves are worlds apart, in almost every way.

Yes, both are golf clubs in the sense that there isn’t anything else to do—Seminole has the least-used swimming pool in America, and Medalist has no pool at all. But the latter counts Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Brooks Koepka, Justin Thomas, Dustin Johnson and Rickie Fowler among its members, along with dozens of other PGA Tour players. The former once denied Jack Nicklaus membership, and only two tour pros (Ray Floyd and Nick Price) have ever been extended one.

Last week, Seminole was showcased on television for the first time in the TaylorMade Driving Relief charity event. On Sunday, its Hobe Sound neighbor to the north gets its turn for just the second time. The Match: Champions for Charity will pit Tiger and Peyton Manning against Phil Mickelson and Tom Brady to raise money for COVID-19 relief efforts.

So what exactly are the differences between the two venues?

“I don’t wanna say [Medalist] is tailored for PGA Tour players, but they embrace having us there and are used to having tour players around,” said Patrick Cantlay, who recently traded his native Southern California for Jupe Life and is a member at Medalist as well as nearby Bear’s Club. “It’s got a great feel to it, and it’s laid back.”

To Cantlay’s point, at Seminole, only lunch is served and the course has a hard close at 6 p.m. every day, no matter how many majors you’ve won. Ask Ernie Els, who one day was on the 15th hole with South African billionaire Johan Rupert when Rupert looked at his watch, noticed it was nearing closing time and headed toward the cart to go back to the clubhouse—just as one of the club’s professionals was arriving in a cart of his own.

At Medalist, breakfast and lunch are served, there’s the occasional Super Bowl party and there’s now a ladder by the ninth tee. Why? According to a few loopers there, Chris Farley once fell off the tee box into the adjacent swamp and had to swim 100 feet through the water because his group couldn’t pull him out.

There is some serious golf, of course, although often with a twist. On any given morning, there’s a rush for early tee times at Medalist—the afternoon is for boating, fishing and drinking, after all—but there is a gregarious tone to it, with groups lined up, heckling and applauding one another as they go out.

“The halfway house is next to the first tee and is a hit before, during and after rounds,” says one former caddie. “There’s always a band of loud, degenerate gamblers roaming the clubhouse, and the members love when the caddies get in on the action, too.

“Most tour pros there are young and have a camaraderie among each other, but it’s a place for fun, so many of them have a hard time using it to focus.”

In other words, Medalist is a hangout. Michael Jordan is a member and used to be a more regular REGULAR before he created his course, The Grove XXIII, though he still comes by often enough. So does Dan Marino, who is also a member. Medalist’s affable and longtime head pro, Buddy Antonopoulos, retired three years ago but is so beloved that he was made an honorary member and sometimes still gives lessons. (The club’s annual member-guest now called the Buddy Cup.)

At Medalist, there are no formal tee times, a game against the world’s best players is available seven days a week, and, on occasion, it’s a place where boys can be boys, without the rest of the world knowing it.

“You can relax and play there,” says former PGA Tour pro Olin Browne, a longtime Medalist member and a member of its board who also played Seminole numerous times over the years with his father, who was a member there. “You don’t have to worry about what you say or do.”

There’s a reason Tiger’s yacht is named Privacy, after all. He gets plenty of it at Medalist, too. Though he’s friendly to staff and fellow members, and in recent years has taken a liking to teeing it up with young stars Thomas, McIlroy and Fowler, he also has a corner of the range that is off-limits to everyone else. Fifteen majors come with certain privileges. He’ll often go out there solo, or with caddie Joe LaCava. Medalist also has been something of a boon to Woods through the years—there was his course-record 62 in 2011, a “worst ball” 66 before the 2015 Masters, and the round he was blowing it by Fowler in the days ahead of the 2017 Hero World Challenge and the start of his most recent comeback.

As for the course, the one time Medalist was broadcast into living rooms was in 1995 for a “Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf” match that featured Greg Norman against then-No. 1 Nick Price. The most notable connection between Norman—who co-founded Medalist that year and was a co-designer (with Pete Dye)—and the club these days is an epic falling out years ago. The Shark is still a member because he’s a founding member, and he shows up on the odd occasion, but the relationship is tempestuous. The course has since been redesigned, or restored, by Bobby Weed, to many players’ liking.

Unlike Seminole, a seaside course that’s largely wide open and short by today’s standards at around 7,000 yards, Medalist is a couple of miles inland, rife with wetlands and can be stretched to nearly 7,600 yards, thanks to the addition of “Tiger tees” a few years ago that also brought its Slope Rating to 155 and Course Rating to 77.9.

“Off the tee, it’s very penal,” Cantlay says. “The fairways are wide, but if you get a crosswind and do hit a bad tee shot it can be a lost ball really quick. On a nice day, you won’t miss many fairways, but it’s visually intimidating off the tee.”

Put another way, it’s a modern golf course for the modern player and the modern game. Translation: long and tough.

“There are three or four holes where you can take the safe line off the tee, but it adds 15 to 20 yards to the hole,” Cantlay said. “Tour players aren’t afraid of challenging the little cheat [angles], though.”

The ninth (top) and 15th holes at Medalist. (Courtesy of Medalist)

One such example is the ninth. Another is the 15th. Both are par 4s that dogleg left around sand, scrub and water, but taking on the corner, which requires a carry of around 300, shaves off as much as 50 yards from the approach. The same philosophy holds on 17, a dogleg right.

Then there’s the quality of the greens. They often roll at 13 or 14 on the Stimpmeter and are kept in pristine condition.

“I play a lot of places where they look faster than they are,” Cantlay said. “Medalist is one of the rare places where they’re faster than they look.

“It’s set up for tour golf. You have a lot of 5-, 6-, 7-irons into greens. The greens are fast. That lends itself to getting ready to go out on tour.”

Not surprisingly, there’s a financial element as well. In short, tour players get a break. A membership for regular folk costs $110,000; most tour pros pay only yearly dues of $14,000, with some not being required to pay anything at all. Not all clubs in the area are as forgiving—McArthur Golf Club, just two miles up the street, offers no tour-player discount.

Members at Medalist don’t seem to mind. They’re happy to have the pros among their ranks.

“They accept them,” said former tour player and past Medalist member Marc Turnesa of the membership’s attitude toward the tour pros. “They’re welcomed with open arms.”

For a few hours on Sunday, the rest of the world will be, too.

The post Here’s what makes Medalist such a popular hangout for Tiger Woods and other tour pros appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Christopher Powers
The main criticism of the first match between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, as well as Sunday’s TaylorMade Driving Relief skins game, was the lack of trash talk between the players. At both events, the banter was (somewhat) promising early, but it quickly fizzled out.

Mickelson promises it will be different this Sunday when he and Tom Brady face off with Woods and Peyton Manning in The Match: Champions for Charity, which is being held at Medalist, Woods’ home club in Hobe Sound, Fla. Lefty told Golfweek’s Steve DiMeglio that he believes Manning will play a large role in adding some spice.

“Tiger and I clamped up the first time,” Mickelson said of the first match at Shadow Creek in 2018. “That won’t happen again. I think having Peyton there will be a big part of it because he gives me and Tom somebody to rough up. Peyton, when he comes back at you, he does it in a funny way that elicits a laughter from you as opposed to a defensive response.”

Based off of Manning’s burgeoning acting career, Mickelson makes a strong case. Manning, a future Pro Football Hall-of-Famer is a natural in front of the camera. Never does his act feel forced or cringey, whether it be a 30-second spot for Nationwide or one of the all-time great SNL Digital Shorts. His television presence has never been “good, for an athlete.” It’s been very good, period.

“And I think that’s why he’s so funny,” Mickelson added. “Because even the person he is cutting up finds it funny and doesn’t take it personal. And that will allow us to free it up and do it a little bit more.”

Woods and Manning had the trash-talking edge early thanks to the 15-time major champion laying his green jacket over himself like a blanket in response to a Mickelson dig. But Brady has returned serve multiple times as well, first saying he’d rather face Peyton than Eli, who took him down in the Super Bowl twice. Brady got in another jab on Monday night, telling Bleacher Report he’s “worried they might pump in crowd noise, like they used to at the RCA Dome.” Zing!

Brady thinks Peyton might have some tricks up his sleeve just like back in the day ?

Tune into #CapitalOnesTheMatch on May 24 at 3pm ET on TNT pic.twitter.com/dCCf1SqiK5

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 19, 2020

During his phone call with Golfweek, Mickelson poured some more gas on the fire.

“I can’t wait to go to Tiger’s place and take him down. Tiger thinks he has a huge advantage playing there because he was insistent that this event is played on his home course. Despite everyone else wanting to play it elsewhere. That’s fine. We’ll take it to him and Peyton.

“There will be no excuses. It’s his home course but Tom and I are going to go down there and put it to them, and we’ll make it that every time Tiger shows up at his home course, he’ll have a bad memory.”

Let’s just hope everybody brings some of this ammunition to the course on Sunday when the mics are on.

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