Tiger Woods & Peyton Manning face Phil Mickelson & Tom Brady on Sunday May 24 at Medalist Golf Club in Florida in The Match II to raise over $10 million for COVID relief charities.
The Match Betting Odds
The following are the current best priced odds for The Match
Woods/Manning -200 with BetMGM
Mickleson/Brady +184 with FanDuel
The Match II Preview
Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson faced off in a celebrity Head-to-Head in Las Vegas two years ago with a ‘Winner Takes All’ $9 million Match.
This was won by Mickelson and following the success of this, the pair decided to negotiate a re-match or a ‘Match II’ in order to help with the current COVID crisis facing the world.
Golf is one sport that can be played quite successfully with Social Distancing in place and so Woods and Mickelson were quick to organise a charity event, which will be broadcast around the world on Sunday. ‘The Match: Champions for Charity” aims to raise over $10 million for COVID charities and, to help add some extra entertainment, the pair have enlisted the world’s most famous football players, Tom Brady and Peyton Manning to play with them.
Brady will partner Mickelson with Manning pairing with Woods in what will be a must watch clash of four of America’s most famous sportsman in aid of a good cause and with plenty of side bets.
The format of The Match II is a fourball on the front nine and a foursome on the back nine, with scoring done in Match Play form. The winner of the hole on the front nine will win a point for their team but the change of format on the back nine means that there will be one ball per team and the players will take turns playing shots.
There will be some charitable side bets in play during The Match II although none of these will count towards the final scores with the winner being the team with the most holes won after 18 played.
The Match II Statistics: Key Information
- The Match will be played at Medalist Golf Club in Florida, which is Tiger Woods’ home course
- Phil Mickelson has never played Medalist before
- Peyton Manning plays with a handicap of 6.8
- Tom Brady plays off a handicap of 8.1
- Phil Mickelson won The Match in Las Vegas after a 4 hole Play Off
- Mickelson won 3 of the 5 side bets in Vegas with Woods winning 1 and 1 a Push/Tie
The Match II Predictions
Phil Mickelson has spoken very bullishly about his chances of victory in The Match II and claims that he is ready to ““make it that every time Tiger shows up at his home course, he’ll have a bad memory.”
He says he has played with Tom Brady several times before and that he has no worries about the fact that his partner will be statistically the worst golfer playing at Medalist on Sunday.
“He is a very good putter and he hits the ball a long ways and he’s good with his short irons. If I can get the ball in play I think we’ll have a chance on the back-nine modified alternate-shot platform,” said Lefty.
Nonetheless, it’s difficult to hold out much hope for the underdogs, who are a best price of +187 with FanDuel to win on Sunday. Woods is on home turf and it is he who has organised everything about The Match II, from the course to the commentators (Woods requested regular playing partner Justin Thomas be one of the analysts).
The American was not heavily involved in the build-up to The Match in Las Vegas, which was Mickelson’s baby. It was Phil who initiated the challenge and Phil who came up with the concept of the side bets, even to the point that he laid down $200,000 on getting a birdie on hole 1 (he lost – the only side bet he lost all round).
This time though, Tiger has planned the round. He has chosen his partner wisely as well. Payton Manning is a retired NFL quarterback who loves golf. He has a membership at Augusta National and is the co-owner of a course in Tennessee. He has also had several years to work on his game, having left football behind after the 2015 Super Bowl.
Manning plays off a handicap of 6.4 and in these kind of situations that is important. Even that mark is up for debate with the golf obsessive having previously admitted to playing off of a mark of four.
As the video shows, there is also a friendship between Woods and Manning, who have regularly played together (and in front of TV cameras). This will be helpful both for their team dynamic and maintaining energy on the back nine, when more pressure will be applied to the amatuer golfer.
Speaking of Brady’s game, Mickelson stated “I’ve seen him hit some remarkable shots and I’ve seen him hit some shots that you wouldn’t be so surprised he hit,” which perhaps indicates that the Tampa Bay QB may not be quite up to the level required. Coming off a long season, and a busy post-season with his trade to Tampa and the media commitments of the trade, it may be a match too far for the 42-year-old.
The Match II Prediction
It’s not particularly exciting but the line of -200 for Woods and Manning looks too big. This has the potential to be a mismatch and the only thing likely to stop the home team from coming out on top is if they decide to keep it interesting for the cameras.
Given that Woods is still hurting from the previous defeat, and the fact that a Woods win opens up the possibility for a ‘Match III’, that seems unlikely. It’s also not likely, given the alternating format, and the Social Distancing measures, that the players will want to go to Over Time for this one, so it should be finished within the 18.
