The next edition of The Match will not include a professional golfer but it will include four of the biggest names in professional sports.

Kansas City Chiefs teammates Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce will face Golden State Warriors teammates Steph Curry and Klay Thompson on June 23 at Wynn Golf Club in Las Vegas.

All four men are current champions of their respective sports. The Kansas City Chiefs won the Super Bowl back in February, defeating the Philadelphia Eagles, 38-35. Mahomes was named the Most Valuable Player.

The Golden State Warriors beat the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals last year to capture the title. Curry was MVP. The Warriors are now in the Western Conference semi-finals against the Los Angeles Lakers and lost Game 1, 117-112, on Tuesday. Curry scored 27 points and Thompson scored 25.

This will be the eighth playing of The Match, the last one played in Florida in December under the lights when Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas topped Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy. This also marks the second time that the four participants will be from outside the world of golf, and the second time that Mahomes and Curry are competing. Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers beat Mahomes and Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen last year at Wynn Golf Club. Phil Mickelson and Charles Barkley beat Curry and Peyton Manning three years ago in Arizona.

The first iteration of The Match came back in 2018 when Phil Mickelson beat Woods in extra holes at Shadow Creek in Las Vegas. Woods has participated in three of the seven, including in 2020 when he teamed with Manning to beat Mickelson and Brady at Medalist Golf Club in South Florida.

The post Next ‘Match’ set: Super Bowl champs Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce to face NBA’s Steph Curry, Klay Thompson appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Looks like @PatrickMahomes hooked up the o-line with some golf gear for Christmas. pic.twitter.com/xsyLzoc7QD

— Dante' Jones (@Dantej21) December 21, 2022

What. A. Legend. This is fast becoming one of the NFL’s most treasured holiday traditions. We’ve seen the likes of Kyler Murray and Josh Allen do the same in recent years, and now the most electrifying quarterback of his generation is getting in on the merriment. You really do love to see it.

Unfortunately for the Chiefs offensive line, the midwest and plains are getting slammed by a massive winter storm this week and the Chiefs figure to make a deep run into January this season. Sounds like the guys will have to wait until spring to finally break in those shiny new sticks.

The post Patrick Mahomes hooked up the entire Kansas City Chiefs offensive-line with custom clubs for Christmas appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

But each of the previous made-for-TV events all lacked a little something all the best sporting events have: juice. Juice is unquantifiable. It doesn’t spit out in a statistical model. It’s just one of those things you know exists when you actually feel it.

Make no mistake, the sixth edition of The Match, this one featuring Brady and Rodgers again (on the same team, this time) against Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen, had plenty of juice. This was glaringly evident when, after missing a rather lengthy putt that Brady knew he needed to halve a hole, he let out a gutteral “OH NO” that you would expect to only hear after a backbreaking pick six on a sultry Monday night in Miami. It was equally evident when his teammate walked in the winning birdie putt on the 12th hole and celebrated like he just clinched his billionth NFC North division title.

It also helped, immensely, that there were real, live, actual fans at the Wynn Golf Club, a feature the prior five matches did not have due to either limited, VIP-type invitations and/or COVID restrictions. The Match VI faced neither of those challenges, and it made for an unforgettable atmosphere in Las Vegas.

Here are six takeaways from by far the best The Match.

Patrick Mahomes was stunningly good

Keep in mind when we say “stunningly,” what we mean is we thought Mahomes would definitely be the worst of the four, and possibly downright bad. Yes, he’s an athletic freak of nature who has had some solid swing videos make the social-media rounds before, and he had teed it up in Tahoe last year, but this was going to be an entirely different arena. The shamble format alleviates some of the pressure, but once you select the better of the tee shots it’s on you from there. There’s no hiding, and you better be good throughout your bag, especially considering he wasn’t getting any shots.

Mahomes was plenty good throughout his bag, displaying the ability to mash the driver, showing off some deft touch around the greens and making multiple clutch putts that kept he and Josh Allen in it. It quickly became clear we’d all underestimated Mahomes’ recent work with former PGA Tour player Hank Kuehne and his brother Trip down in Texas. During a Zoom call with a number of media members last week, Mahomes credited the Kuehne brothers with helping him rein in the big stick and with helping him dial it in on the greens. Whatever he’s paying them (we have no idea if he’s paying them) it ain’t enough. That man CARRIED Allen around the golf course on Wednesday, when the prevailing thought was that the exact opposite would occur.

Mahomes had to take a lap after this chip shot ? #CapitalOnesTheMatch pic.twitter.com/AGwwKQOtDY

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) June 2, 2022

The fans added an entirely new element

This was mentioned in the opening but bears repeating: each of the first five matches were seriously underwhelming in the buzz department, mostly a product of COVID. That was not the case for Brady/Rodgers vs Mahomes/Allen, who obviously brought out the exact type of fan needed to give these events some much-needed pop: NFL fans.

Right from the moment all four gunslingers arrived at the makeshift range at the Wynn, you could feel this was going to be different. Bills Mafia was out in full force (those people travel well), and they serenaded Brady with a “Let’s go Buffalo!” song (to the tune of ‘Shout’) while he made his way to the practice area. Everywhere you looked someone had on one of the four QB’s jerseys. And because this was golf and not an NFL stadium, fans could get extremely close to their heroes, and many times the fan reaction to being that close was what I’d imagine the reaction was to Elvis Presley simply existing back in his day. These four dudes are absolute rockstars and are treated as such, though they received their fair share of trash talk as well. The type of trash talk that most PGA Tour pros would hear and promptly call security to have the culprits removed from the premises. Brady? He’s heard much worse over the last two decades as king. Rodgers? He welcomed that type of vitriol in Chicago last season by screaming “I OWN YOU” to Bears fans after a touchdown scamper. Allen and Mahomes are probably still getting used to it, but they handled it just fine. It was a mini-NFL environment in a golf setting, and it was electric.

Tom Brady is the ultimate salesman

No athlete has ever reminded me as much of Phil Mickelson as TB12 did on Wednesday. Constantly smiling and thumbs-upping people to death. “Thanks for coming out,” to everyone that screamed his name. Just the word “BRADY” on his golf shirt. TB12 logo in plain sight at all times, be it on his gigantic Yeti water bottle or the front of his hat, which he wore backwards for about three holes up until the final hole when it turned it back forward knowing there would be maximum eyeballs on the tense par-3 tee that decided the match. It makes sense given his entire social-media presence revolves around selling product, but it’s still so wild to see in person. It’s hard to tell if he’s a real human at times, but he reminds you that he very much is when he’s hitting bad golf shots. Brady hates nothing more than hitting bad golf shots, because hitting bad golf shots means you are losing, and losing is not something Brady does all that often and when he does he does not handle it well. It’s at his lowest points when he’s the most relatable, and those points usually only come when he’s holding a golf club in his hands.

"Some tip you gave me."

Brady had to call out the crew this shot ? #CapitalOnesTheMatch pic.twitter.com/w4hf5nBshn

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) June 2, 2022

People are not afraid to get hit by a golf ball, apparently

Nowhere was the phrase “common sense is not common” more apparent than at the Wynn Golf Club on Wednesday evening. Because people with common sense would understand that these professional quarterbacks are not professional golfers, meaning you are in the line of fire basically anywhere that isn’t behind them when they are addressing a golf ball. All four guys can move it well on their best swings, but their bad swings are just like the rest of ours, which leads us to the question: Would you stand two yards off the fairway just 20 yards ahead if you or your buddy were on the tee box? The answer (I hope) is no. Brady knows this, and he implored the fans to spread out on the second tee, telling them “guys, that’s really dangerous” multiple times, to no avail. Then, he promptly line-drived one down the left side that could have killed someone but fortunately did not. Turns out, that was one of the few tee shots that didn’t hit someone. It was an absolute shooting gallery, though most folks didn’t care. In fact, I actually heard multiple people wish they were the ones who got struck by the Aaron Rodgers block fade. With the right mix of Vegas sun and refreshments, it’s probably a pain-free experience anyway.

That Aaron Rodgers is quite clutch after all

The haters will tell you Rodgers has shrunk in many a big moment since his lone Super Bowl victory, but there was no such shrinking on the golf course. The now four-time MVP was the sneaky MVP on Wednesday, making a birdie on the first to go 1 up and picking up an insanely clutch birdie at the ninth that was just to halve the hole. And finally, with the match on the line, draining a birdie to avoid a closest to the pin playoff and walking it in in style:

A-Rod for the WIN! ? #CapitalOnesTheMatch pic.twitter.com/et3paek5DB

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) June 2, 2022

It’s not fair to say he dragged Brady to victory, because Brady did make a huge birdie late in the match that tied it back up, but Rodgers was the steadying force the entire day. He pounds the ball with his driver and consistently strikes his irons well, while Brady has trouble avoiding some big misses and the odd shank or chunk. Rodgers does nothing of that sort, and he expects to make the shot or the putt, just like he expects to fit the ball into that tight window that only he can fit it into. As a result, he’s 2-0 in these matches and has seemingly played a massive role in both victories. He likes to play down just how good he is, which is clearly by design.

The Match was really fun and there should (will) be more just like it

At the risk of repeating everything I’ve already written, I’ll just keep it simple: this match, the one without any PGA Tour professionals, was by far the most fun one yet. It still has some work to do in the format/organisation department, but that matters little when you get the right mix of personalities like this one had and the addition of some rabid fans who would have no idea how to act at an actual professional golf event but can get away with acting like that in this setting. Vegas seems to be the ideal location for these, as fans will have no issue making a trip out of it to see their guys up close and personal, not to mention the fact that Vegas is pretty good at hosting this type of stuff. The hard golf fan may continue to resist, but maybe these just aren’t for the hard golf fan. Judging by the social-media reaction, this one attracted the exact crowd that golf doesn’t have and so desperately needs, so there’s no other way to view it than as a positive.

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The post Mahomes shines, Rodgers comes up clutch (again) and four other takeaways from best ‘The Match’ yet appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Joel Beall
Reigning All-Pro quarterbacks Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers will take on fellow NFL superstars Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen in the next installment of ‘The Match’.

The Turner Sports exhibition will take place on Wednesday, June 1 at Wynn Golf Club in Las Vegas. The Wynn previously hosted the last iteration of The Match in November, with Brooks Koepka defeating Brooks DeChambeau in a 12-hole battle.

Like previous versions of The Match, players will be mic’d up during competition, allowing viewers to hear the chatter inside the ropes and facilitate banter between the broadcast crew and players during the event. The 12-hole challenge format from the Koepka-DeChambeau bout will also return.

This will be Brady’s third appearance in The Match. He previously played alongside Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Peyton Manning in the ‘Champions For Charity’ event at Medalist in Hobe Sound, Florida in May 2020 and returned last July to team up with Mickelson in a losing effort against DeChambeau and Rodgers at the Reserve at Moonlight Basin in Big Sky, Montana. Brady, a seven-time Super Bowl champ, returned from a short retirement this offseason and will be entering his 23rd year in the NFL this autumn.

This will be Rodgers’ second Match outing following his aforementioned victory in Big Sky last summer, while both Mahomes and Allen will be making their Match debuts. Combined the four gunslingers have won nine Super Bowls and made 86 playoff appearances.

This is the sixth edition of The Match, which has raised nearly $33 million for various charitable endeavors.

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The post Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers to face Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen in next installment of ‘The Match’ appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

I was lucky enough to get a crack at Jim Nantz’s famed backyard golf hole—with the man himself doing play-by-play. #Blessed #ButNotQuiteBlessedToMakeAnAce pic.twitter.com/Dw8CYPEhSG

— Alex Myers (@AlexMyers3) February 4, 2020

This bucket-list experience actually happened back in June during U.S. Open week, but the footage was under an unofficial embargo until the legendary broadcaster, who also happens to be a Golf Digest colleague, wrote about his personal golf oasis for the magazine. Sadly, I didn’t make it into Nantz’s column with the likes of Jack and Arnie. But thankfully, I have my own column, so you better believe I’m going to make sure as many people know about this as possible. OK, we should talk about other stuff now. I guess …

WE’RE BUYING

Webb Simpson: You know how Andrew Landry randomly won a few weeks back after missing five consecutive cuts? Well, this was the exact opposite of that situation. Simpson has been on an absolute heater since a T-5 at last year’s Masters, including four runner-ups, so a win was just a matter of time. The guy never has a bad week. Seriously, look it up:

While superb iron play (second in strokes gained/approach) and some added pop off the tee have him back among the game’s elite players and up to No. 7 in the Official World Golf Ranking, the most amazing part of his career resurgence is the putting. Here’s a guy who actually snapped his trusty long putter over his knee in 2014 with the anchor ban approaching and who many wondered if he’d ever win again when he sunk near the bottom of the PGA Tour in strokes gained/putting for two seasons (174th and 177th). But he’s finished fifth and 11th the past two seasons and is currently seventh in the stat. Remarkable.

Christian Petersen/Getty Images

Patrick Mahomes’ golf swing: No, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that the Super Bowl MVP has other athletic talents, and yes, this is an old video, but it deserves another look following Mahomes leading Missouri’s NFL franchise to a title.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B8G8R9KpaKA/?utm_source=ig_embed

What a stud. And his golf game is only going to get better after having a green installed in his backyard in October. In fact, some people* (*me) are saying that was the turning point in the Chiefs’ season. Patrick, I’d love to come by and check out your backyard golf hole as well. Let me know.

Graeme McDowell: Padraig Harrington daggered McDowell over Thanksgiving when G-Mac asked about a spot on this year’s European Ryder Cup team. Well, it’s not a joke anymore after McDowell’s win at the Saudi International. Pair that with Lee Westwood’s recent win and the old “Ole Ole Ole Ole!” gang might be getting back together at Whistling Straits in September.

I might have to have a rethink on my potential vice captains @Graeme_McDowell @WestwoodLee https://t.co/IYV3txCFaj

— Padraig Harrington (@padraig_h) February 2, 2020

WE’RE SELLING

Graeme McDowell’s warning: I’m all about the European Tour enforcing slow play under its new policy, but slapping G-Mac with a bad time after he gave an on-course interview to Sky Sports makes about as much sense as the Iowa Caucus. G-Mac is great with the media. Mid-round interviews are great for fans. But yeah, let’s do something that flies in the face of both. That rules official must be a real hoot at parties.

Brooks Koepka’s mid-interview thoughts: Speaking of mid-round interviews, Koepka probably speaks for most tour pros when he said this: “I won’t do it,” Koepka said. “I’m not interested in talking about what just happened or the difficulty of the holes ahead. I’m just focused on one shot at a time, where my ball’s at. I understand why it might be beneficial for the fans, but I don’t get it.” C’mon, Brooks, lighten up. Then again, the guy is World No. 1 (at least for a few more days) so he obviously knows what he’s doing.

Tony Finau’s final rounds: As our Joel Beall pointed out, it’s not so much that Finau chokes on Sunday (Sorry, Johnny), but he never quite seems to do enough to get the job done. This week was particularly heartbreaking with his four kids there to see it—had Webb’s five been there, we’d have quite the youth basketball game on our hands—and following days of Finau tributes to his sports idol, Kobe Bryant. But a final-round 70 wasn’t enough to close the door, leaving Top Ten Tony still open to criticism for being stuck on one career win. Close doesn’t count, sports are tough. Just ask Kyle Shanahan and Jimmy Garoppolo.

ON TAP

The PGA Tour heads to Pebble Beach for the AT&T Pro-Am, AKA that tournament where you will see more of Alfonso Ribeiro and Larry the Cable Guy the first three days than you will of the tour pro actually leading the tournament. On a personal note, I’m happy to see one of my all-time favourite athletes, the recently retired Eli Manning, teeing it up. Now there’s a QB who could get it done in a big spot.

Random tournament fact: Phil Mickelson is the defending champ. That seems like longer than a year ago, doesn’t it? Phil also happens to be the name I could have been listed below on Jim Nantz’s “Rock of Fame” had I made a hole-in-one. Of course, that didn’t happen. Good luck to those fortunate enough to get a crack at it this week.

RANDOM PROP BETS OF THE WEEK

—There will be another playoff between two guys with nine combined kids: 1-MILLION -to-1 odds

—Phil Mickelson will win this week: 25-to-1 odds (Actual odds)

—Phil Mickelson will tell other ageing athletes all about his diet this week: LOCK

PHOTO OF THE WEEK

Even by cheesy promotional tournament photos, this is something else:

Congrats to DJ and Patrick Reed on their squad winning the Big Game!

VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK (GOLF COURSE CATEGORY)

When my man Greg Snedeker isn’t shooting The Grind videos with me, he’s working on much cooler stuff like this with my man Jim Nantz:

https://www.instagram.com/p/B8HrVMbJbdX/?utm_source=ig_embed

Just hearing Nantz say, “majestic,” is worth watching.

VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK (GOLF TOURNAMENT CATEGORY)

The Waste(d) Management Phoenix Open never fails to deliver:

https://www.instagram.com/p/B8C3bZGh6Sa/?utm_source=ig_embed

It’s just too bad Jim Nantz wasn’t narrating this too.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“I tell you what, for a guy that I never knew, I don’t think I’ve ever experienced sadness for the death of someone that I never knew like I did with Kobe. And my caddie and I were talking about it the other night and I asked him, why do you think, you know, this one feels different? I mean, many, many people have died in my lifetime that I knew of, but I think, just, it hit home to me. He’s seven years older, he’s 41, he has four kids, I have five; he has four daughters, I have four daughters; and he seemed like he was at a place in his life where he’s so excited about what’s going on around him, what he’s giving back to, what he’s involved in. So I think that made it hard, but I hope his wife Vanessa and his kids have felt what we have seen with what people are doing and how people are talking about how he impacted their life. So, yeah, I watched the Lakers game the other night and LeBron, the tribute, so I’ve been thinking about it all week. And I love what they did on 16 today, 24 on, 8 left. My caddie and I were actually trying to figure out that last night. We’re like, I’ve never seen that pin, what are they doing? And we didn’t really think about it until this morning. But, yeah, I mean, my heart’s still heavy, as I’m sure the world’s is, it’s going to be awhile.” —Webb Simpson on Kobe Bryant. Well said, Webb. Of course, I’d expect nothing less from a fellow Wake Forest man.

THIS WEEK IN PGA TOUR PRO-WAGS PUBLIC DISPLAYS OF AFFECTION

Pat Perez’s Air Jordans collection is a sight to behold:

To the point that he had an entire room built in his new house just for them:

Well, for most of them, at least.

THIS WEEK IN PHIL BEING PHIL

https://www.instagram.com/p/B8EY3ZljoSx/?utm_source=ig_embed

That’s pretty good. And so was Phil’s week as he finished T-3 in Saudi Arabia after back-to-back missed cuts on the PGA Tour to start 2020.

THIS AND THAT

CBS Sports’ Dottie Pepper came on this week’s Golf Digest Podcast to talk about the eerie scene at Torrey Pines and the time she got sick celebrating her biggest win. Dottie Pepper is awesome.

https://soundcloud.com/user-96678684/cbs-sports-dottie-pepper-webb-simpsons-putting-turnaround-pebble-beach-best-bets

Brooks Koepka will lose his World No. 1 ranking next week to Rory McIlroy. Just a guess, but Brooks isn’t too concerned. … Congratulations to former Golf Digest colleague Bill Fields for winning the PGA Lifetime Achievement Award in Journalism. They couldn’t find a nicer—and more deserving—golf writer to give this to. … And finally, a current Golf Digest colleague was honored in a much different way:

Hey, it’s better than Sam’s other nickname, Sammy Spillz.

RANDOM QUESTIONS TO PONDER

Would you take Brooks or DJ in a game of tackle?

How much is Pat Perez’s shoe collection worth?

Will I ever be invited back to Jim Nantz’s house?

The post Patrick Mahomes’ sweet golf swing, Pat Perez’s sick shoe collection, and what it’s like to play Jim Nantz’s backyard hole appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.