The Match: Champions for Charity to Bring $10 Million to Help COVID-19 Relief
Last month, we heard about a two on two golf match with Tiger Woods teaming with Peyton Manning against Phil Mickelson and Tom Brady in a clash of a pair of the top golfers in the world along with two of the best quarterbacks in NFL history. On Thursday, we got more details about the concept, which has come to fruition and will take place with some hefty dollar figures being handed out to fight the COVID-19 pandemic that has run rampant across the globe over the past few months.
The contest, titled “The Match: Champions for Charity” has been scheduled for May 24 at 3 pm ET and will be televised by both TNT and TBS. It will take place from the Medalist Golf Club in Hobe Sound, Florida. Despite Florida’s reopening as they continue to deal with the COViD-19 pandemic, this event will take place in front of no fans. The event has been sanctioned by the PGA Tour and the announcement about the event was made by Turner Sports. According to the report, Woods, Manning, Mickelson and Brady will donate a total of $10 million to the relief efforts helping communities battle COVID-19.
The match is scheduled for 18 holes but it will be a split format. In the match, the first nine holes are going to be played under the best ball format. Meanwhile, the back nine will be contested under a modified format of alternate shot play. This would mark the first event that the PGA has been involved with since March 12, when the Players Championship was canceled after the opening round. The PGA has announced that they hope to return to action on June 11 with the Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth. That tournament would also be played without fans. They expect to have a heavy testing regimen to ensure that players are healthy and to try and avoid a COVID-19 flareup on the
On paper, you can’t find a better marquee matchup from either side of the pairings to draw interest. Woods and Mickelson are two of the best-known players on the PGA Tour and they have had plenty of success in their respective careers. Mickelson has 44 career PGA wins, including five major championships, while Woods has 81 career victories with 15 of those coming in majors. When you look at what Brady and Manning have done on the gridiron, it’s tough to think of a more celebrated pair of quarterbacks in league history. They’ve combined to win eight Super Bowls, eight MVP awards, 1080 touchdown passes in the regular season and racked up 405 regular season victories plus 44 playoff wins on their respective ledgers.
For those of you looking to make a wager or two on the match, that’s always a viable option. The sportsbooks currently put the Woods/Manning pairing as a solid -210 favorite for the match, while Mickelson and Brady are going off as +170 underdogs. For those of you looking to throw down some money on prop bets, there are a slew of those out there to take a look at. Examples of potential prop bets include “Will Tiger Woods wear a red shirt?” at -600 for yes and +350 for no, to what logo will be on Tom Brady’s hat (TB12 -400, while the Buccaneers are +250) and how many commercials will Peyton Manning appear in during the telecast (under 1.5 is going at -180 while the over is +140), among others.
It’s wins all around when this is all said and done. TBS and TNT win with having live sports programming featuring marquee names that have high recognition value. The PGA Tour wins because they can benefit from the publicity of the event, helping draw interest for their upcoming events. Organizations that are helping people through the COVID-19 pandemic like the American Red Cross, Direct Relief and the All-In Challenge win because they’re gaining financial resources and publicity to potentially generate extra funds to help in their works.
We know the tenacity and fire that each of these athletes bring to the table. Unfortunately, two of them are going to come up on the short end of the stick. That could help push the over on the number of curse words uttered by Woods and Mickelson during the event. Currently, the under 5.5 is going off at -240 on that front while the over is +165.
