By Shane Ryan
Despite the rain, and despite the uneven quality of similar events in the past, Sunday’s second installment of The Match, featuring Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, was an enormous success. The production was top-notch, the golf was dramatic and occasionally brilliant, and the technology served to let the players’ personalities shine through. On top of that, some of the seemingly riskier elements, like turning Justin Thomas into a commentator, blew away the expectations. Oh, and it got the highest rating of any golf event in cable history.

Even before The Match, I had begun thinking about innovations TV broadcasts could make to bolster coverage as we enter new phases of sport and culture and just about everything else. The first two on my list, as you’ll see, were pulled off to perfection on Sunday. The rest are more technical, but I think equally relevant to improving the aesthetic experience of watching golf.

1. Mid-round interviews
There’s no really good reason beyond mild annoyance to the players that this couldn’t work, even in the current COVID-19 environment, provided that safe social distancing is practiced. In the major team sports, coaches are obliged to give interviews, and players will occasionally speak at halftime or between periods. There are no “coaches” in that same sense in golf, but the game happens at a slower pace, and a 60-second walking interview between holes is not too much to ask. I don’t think there’s a reasonable argument that it’s overly disruptive, especially if planned in advance.

The real problem becomes whether the interview is actually GOOD or not. It’s a format that’s prone to flat cliches, but as Sunday proved, this could be a great addition to a broadcast. You just need the right personnel, and that wouldn’t even necessarily mean an on-course reporter—just an earpiece and a connection to the tower. (It also would be wonderful if a player could interact on a longer basis with the announcers via earpieces, as we saw at The Match, but that’s probably asking too much of competitive athletes.)

RELATED: Our six favourite things from The Match II

2. Mic’d up players and caddies
In exhibitions past, we’ve witnessed players with live microphones, but the purpose behind it is dreaded “banter,” which typically comes across as hollow, forced and not very funny. But if players and caddies wore mics during a round, producers could find riveting audio that captures natural conversation or impromptu strategy sessions. Phil serving as a mentor for Tom Brady was riveting and hopefully stokes our appetite for similar mid-round insight. For a sense of what this might look like, check this out from 2018. Twitter was abuzz about a conversation Jordan Spieth and his caddie, Michael Greller, had on the 13th hole, the exchange speaking for itself.

It’s an example of great television that gets to the heart not just of golf strategy, but the player-caddie relationship. Almost 50,000 viewed it that day, based solely on it spreading through Twitter. In that case, seems like the CBS crew had a directional microphone close enough to pick up the dialogue—it wasn’t Spieth and Greller who wore mics—but it gives you a solid idea of the gold that could be mined from capturing audio of these big moments.

3. Racing drone coverage of the shots

First, watch this video:

Incredible golf drone work! ?

Come on @SkySportsGolf – it’s time…
pic.twitter.com/veaVVs3a2o

— thesportsman (@TheSportsman) March 4, 2020

The greatest “absence” in the video coverage of golf shots is that there is a disconnect between where the ball is struck and where the ball lands. You get video of the golfer swinging, and then you get a static shot of where the ball is expected to land. Those shots have the benefit of creating a sense of anticipation, but they’re deficient in pure motion, in seeing how the ball approaches its target. The racing drone videos solve that problem by giving us the complete shot, and with the ball lingering, hovering above the hole below, the sense of anticipation is not lost. In fact, it’s heightened, because you can see the flag from the ball’s perspective.

This, to me, is more than a novelty—it’s an important evolution in capturing the sport. It’s beautiful, too, both in the movement of the ball and the view of the surrounding landscape, and totally immersive. You’d have to manage the coverage without disturbing the players (or inadvertently crashing into a spectator), but when sports like the NFL have actual remote cameras on wires strung over the field, this has to be doable.

Racing drones are priced in the thousands, at their highest, which is a pittance to a major TV network. The training and logistics are the tougher hurdles, but nothing like insurmountable. If CBS or NBC started small and used this technology on a hole or two, I believe the demand would be so great that it would become the new normal.

4. More statistical integration before shots

Icon Sportswire

We have the capacity today to know the exact distance of every shot, and the data to understand how the “average” golfer performs from various positions on the course. “Statistical integration” sounds complex, but I’m speaking simply here. When a player surveys a 12-foot putt, I’d love to know the exact percentage of players who make it from that distance, and the player’s percentage. This happens on occasion, notably during PGA Tour Live streaming broadcasts, but not as much as we’d like.

Likewise, when a player is about to hit a 130-yard approach, I want to know where he stands among his peers in proximity to the pin from that distance. How often are sand saves executed from a specific distance? How often does a drive land in the fairway? ShotLink makes this all possible, and you can find everything online, but it could be used to far greater effect in the actual broadcasts. The announcers wouldn’t have to mention it every time; it could simply be there in a graphic for those of us who want the reference, and it would instantly heighten our appreciation of, and knowledge about, the game.

5. Post-round player compilation videos
This is a recommendation for the digital side. As it becomes increasingly possible to film more and more shots and to store these shots online, there’s a great opportunity to get creative. I’ve had this idea for a long time: compilation videos that show every shot one player takes during a round, so that if I miss TV coverage but want to re-watch Tyrrell Hatton shoot a closing 74 at Bay Hill in windy conditions, I can go online and do exactly that. From the start of a player’s swing to the moment when the ball stops, a shot can take anywhere from less than three seconds for short putts to roughly 20 seconds for the longest possible drives. Let’s be conservative and estimate that the average is 10 seconds. That means if a player shoots 70, a video of every shot would run under 12 minutes.

This is asking quite a lot, I realise; video storage and camera coverage might not quite be up to snuff yet. But even a partial compilation would be a welcome way to experience our favourite players and get more eyeballs on more shots.

The post With The Match in mind, five key innovations to improve golf on TV appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Tod Leonard
Four big sports stars and America’s hunger for live sporting events added up to big numbers for Sunday’s The Match: Champions for Charity.

According to a press release distributed on Monday by Turner Sports, the second edition of The Match, with Tiger Woods and Peyton Manning beating Phil Mickelson and Tom Brady 1-up, averaged 5.8 million viewers, though it should be noted it appeared on four platforms—TBS, TNT, TruTV and HLN.

Turner said the number is the largest for a golf audience ever on cable, beating out the previous record of 4.9 million for ESPN’s broadcast of the first round of the 2010 Masters, which was Woods’ return from the scandal he experienced in late 2009.

RELATED: Our six favourite things about The Match II

The Match telecast, which raised $20 million for COVID-19 relief organizations, peaked at 6.3 million from 5:45 p.m. to 6 p.m., Eastern time, as the duos played the front nine in stormy weather at the Medalist Golf Club in Hobe Sound, Fla. Woods and Manning got out to an early 3-up lead, but Mickelson and Brady scratched back during the modified alternate-shot back nine to get to within one before falling in near-darkness at 18.

The overnight ratings for the show made it the top TV program of the day, with the golf beating out NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600 on Fox. In ratings, The Match handily bested last week’s TaylorMade Driving Relief, which drew 2.35 million viewers in featuring Rory McIlory and Dustin Johnson defeating Rickie Fowler and Matthew Wolff.

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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 Tod Leonard
Phil Mickelson insists a new, softer shaft in his driver will help him hit more fairways.

Here’s one more reason to scrutinize The Match: Champions for Charity on Sunday: Phil Mickelson contends he’s found a way to be more accurate with his driver.

Yep, stop us if you’ve heard this before. It seems like every January Lefty arrives in La Quinta for his season opener and has some new-found swing key or equipment change that is going to magically—finally!—help him find more fairways. Then he continues to spray it all over the yard while leaning on his magnificent short game to save him.

Who knows how many more tournaments-—more critically, majors-—Mickelson could have captured if could stay out of the trees, rough and the occasional hospitality tent.

The stats don’t lie, not do they change all that much. On average per year, Mickelson hits just more than half the fairways. His accuracy standing on the PGA Tour the last five years: 161st, 163rd, 162nd, 189th and 185th. This year, he’s 182nd while actually having improved to 56.23 percent.

Also, remember Phil’s play was decidedly mediocre thus far in 2020: four missed cuts to go with a solo third at Pebble Beach that saw him contend, only to shoot 74 on Sunday.

The downtime during the halt to Tour competition during the coronavirus outbreak has apparently given Phil more time to tinker and to contend that he’s found an answer. (Of course, to the discerning eye, this does come along at the same time as an entertaining new commercial about the Callaway Mavrik driver that will debut during the Match.)

“I have been working hard on my driver,” Mickelson said on a new Callaway podcast that debuted on Friday. “I’m really excited about the changes I made.”

Phil said he’s made an undisclosed change in his setup, while also switching to an altered head and softer shaft in his driver. He said the shaft will allow him to square the face better. “I don’t have to use my hands as much,” Mickelson contended.

He says the change means he can avoid the dreaded bad miss left that has plagued him.

“My miss isn’t left anymore,” he said. “It’s actually right, if anything, which is going to take some getting used to.”

He added, “I like to play with swinging the head freely and not thinking about position. Those changes are allowing me to drive it much straighter.”

Some proof should come at Medalist on Sunday, when Mickelson pairs with Tom Brady in the match against Tiger Woods and Peyton Manning. While the front nine is best ball, the back is modified alternate shot, with each team choosing a best drive and alternating on swings from there.

Where it could get sticky for Mickelson: Apparently, Brady isn’t anymore accurate that he is.

“He drives it with the accuracy of an 18-handicap,” Lefty said on the podcast of Brady, who’s listed as an 8-handicap. “He has the potential to miss big with the big clubs.”

But, Mickelson contends, Brady is an excellent putter. And there’s where strategy will come into play in the match. They may end up taking more of Brady’s drives on the back, however wayward, so that Phil can possibly set him up with a birdie putt. If Brady’s hitting approaches, they’ll likely need all of Mickelson’s short-game wizardry.

Following up on some needling earlier in the week, Mickelson reiterated on the podcast that he feels like he has “nothing to lose” in going up against Woods on his home course.

“To me, it’s funny,” Mickelson said in a light-hearted tone. “We wanted to hold this at another site, but Tiger insisted we go to his home course. I understand why. He wants every advantage possible. He takes the lower handicap, Peyton Manning, who is a 4. He gives me the one that’s an 8. He insisted we go to his home course. I love that about him. I respect that about him, that he’s looking for every little edge.

“From my point of view, I’m the defending champion. I have the belt to prove it. … I’m going to his place. Everyone expects him to come back and win. He supposedly has the better partner than me, game-wise. Tom and I are going down there with nothing to lose; we can freewheel it, play well, and have the ability to give him a bad memory at his home course.”

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This Sunday’s The Match: Champions for Charity, will look a little different, as Tiger Woods, Peyton Manning, Phil Mickelson and Tom Brady will each have their own carts. Roll your eyes accordingly, golf purists.

To be fair, Tiger and Peyton should never carry their own bags given their injury history. As for Phil and Brady, they aren’t exactly spring chickens themselves. Carts should be encouraged in this old man foursome, especially when they look like Tiger’s personalised cart, which is 10 times as kingly as you could ever imagine:

Tiger’s cart = ???#CapitalOnesTheMatch pic.twitter.com/qWCvug8ZVO

— The First Cut Podcast (@FirstCutPod) May 22, 2020

Yep. Fire flames, as the kids say. Honestly, did you expect anything different? A 15-time major champ playing at Medalist, his home club, ain’t going to be rolling around in a standard, gas-powered E-Z-GO like the rest of us. If you notice, it looks like there will be cameras mounted on it, and hopefully they’ll catch Woods secretly talking smack on the way to his drives.

The question is, what will the other three carts look like, and can any of them compete with TW’s? After seeing those pictures, we doubt it.

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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.

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By Christopher Powers
It was far from perfect, but last Sunday’s TaylorMade Driving Relief event gave golf fans a much-needed respite from the current state of the world. It also offered a glimpse of what could be golf’s new normal, at least in the near future.

This Sunday, we’ll get another look with The Match: Champions for Charity. No disrespect to Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson, Rickie Fowler and Matthew Wolff, but The Match’s quartet of players is a bit more star-studded, with Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and a pair of NFL legends in Peyton Manning and Tom Brady. Everything you need to know about the event—how to watch, the format, the teams, etc.— can be found in our viewer’s guide below.

The Teams
The two-man teams for The Match: Champions for Charity are Tiger Woods/Peyton Manning and Phil Mickelson/Tom Brady.

The Format
The format for the event is an 18-hole match, though the front and back nines will be very different. On the front nine it will be Four-Ball, better known as best ball to the weekend golfer. Each team member plays their own ball, and the lower of the two scores is the team score for that hole. The low score between the two teams would win the hole. Brady and Manning will each get three strokes on the front nine, one on a par 3, one on a par 4 and one on a par 5. A committee will determine which three holes.

On the back nine, the teams will play a Modified Alternate shot, which some may know as the Pinehurst format. In this format, each team member hits a tee shot, then they select the best tee shot of the two and alternate from there until the ball is holed. There will be no handicap for Brady and Manning in this format.

In the event of a tie, the match will go to an extra, shortened hole. Teams will continue playing Modified Alternate Shot, though it will be from a spot 100-125 yards away from the 18th green. They’ll repeat until a winner is determined.

How To Watch
The Match: Champions for Charity will be broadcast live on TNT, TBS, truTV and HLN on Sunday, May 24, beginning at 2 p.m. ET. It can also be streamed on TBS.com, TNTdrama.com, as well as the TNT, TBS and Bleacher Report (B/R) apps on mobile devices.

The Location
The Match: Champions for Charity is being held at Medalist Golf Club in Hobe Sound, Fla. The course, originally designed by Greg Norman and Pete Dye in 1995, was redesigned in 2015 by Bobby Weed. Woods, who is a member, should have a distinct home-course advantage.

The Charity
Collectively, WarnerMedia and the four golfers will be making a $10 million donation to benefit COVID-19 relief. The competition will also include a partnership with the ALL IN Challenge, as well as a number of additional on-course challenges for charity.

Additional Challenges
So far, there have been two reported challenges that will take place. According to Yahoo Sports, players will play Medalist’s par-4 fifth hole with only one club, a page straight out of MGM Resorts’ The Challenge, which took place this past fall in Japan with Tiger among the foursome competing. On Tuesday, Bleacher Report announced that Charles Barkley, who will be one of the analysts for the event, will also play one hole as part of a Bogey or Better challenge for an additional $200,000 to charity.

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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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By Keely Levins
As we gear up for live golf to resume with the TaylorMade Driving Relief skins game and The Match: Champions for Charity, another star-studded charity event has been added to the calendar. Two of the top three players in the world will play against each other in a skins game to benefit the charity of their choice, Golf Channel’s Randall Mel reported. Jin Young Ko, who is currently No. 1 in the world, will play Sung Hyun Park, No. 3, in the Hyundai Card Super Match on May 24 in Incheon, South Korea.

The course, SKY72 Ocean Course, was a stop on the LPGA Tour, with the LPGA KEB Hana Bank Championship played there from 2008-2018.

Ko and Park will compete for a 100 million won prize, which is about $82,000. The sum will be donated to the winner’s charity of choice. There’s also the opportunity to win some extra money for charity: Each player will pick two holes before the match begins. If she wins the hole that she chose, another $8,200 will be donated.

Due to concerns over the spread of COVID-19, there will be no fans in attendance at the event.

Sung Hyun Park plays a shot during the second round of the 2017 Evian Championship. (Stuart Franklin)

Though LPGA Tour tournaments haven’t been played since February, Ko and Park’s match won’t be the first time Park plays competitively. The KLPGA is playing an event the week before the skins match. The KLPGA’s re-start could be advantageous for LPGA Tour members who are currently in South Korea, as it gives them the opportunity to compete nearly two months before the LPGA Tour is scheduled to resume on July 15 at the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational.

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