The Match is returning, and this year’s edition might be the most star-studded of them all. What began back in 2018 on Thanksgiving with Tiger Woods playing Phil Mickelson in a head-to-head round has endured for four years in many different versions. This one — with Woods and world No. 1 Rory McIlroy facing Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas — features 24 major championships and four of the best golfers of the last 30 years all on the course together.
This seventh edition of The Match will be played on Saturday, Dec. 10 at 6 p.m. ET at Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Florida, and will serve as a platform to benefit Hurricane Ian relief efforts. Unless Woods plays in the Hero World Challenge, which he hosts Dec. 1-4, this will be his first public golf appearance since this summer’s Open Championship at St. Andrews. It will be his third appearance in The Match overall.
Woods has mostly been absent from the golf world since missing the cut at the Old Course in July, though he does have some playing opportunities coming up. Between this, his Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas and the PNC Championship, which he and his son have played in the last two years, we could see a lot of Tiger before the end of the year.
Though McIlroy and Thomas appeared in an exhibition with Woods at Big Cedar Lodge after the 2020 U.S. Open, neither they nor Spieth have appeared in any edition of The Match. Here’s a look at the first six iterations of The Match.
The Match results
|
2018 |
Tiger Woods vs. Phil Mickelson |
Mickelson |
Las Vegas |
|
2020 |
Tiger Woods & Peyton Manning vs. Phil Mickelson & Tom Brady |
Woods & Manning |
Florida |
|
2020 |
Phil Mickelson & Charles Barkley vs. Steph Curry & Peyton Manning |
Mickelson & Barkley |
Arizona |
|
2021 |
Bryson DeChambeau & Aaron Rodgers vs. Phil Mickelson & Tom Brady |
DeChambeau & Rodgers |
Montana |
|
2021 |
Bryson DeChambeau vs. Brooks Koepka |
Koepka |
Las Vegas |
|
2022 |
Tom Brady & Aaron Rodgers vs. Josh Allen & Patrick Mahomes |
Brady & Rodgers |
Las Vegas |
| 2022 | Tiger Woods & Rory McIlroy vs. Jordan Spieth & Justin Thomas | Florida |
This version of The Match will be limited to 12 holes, which as the DeChambeau-Koepka match taught us, is the perfect length for a made-for-TV golf event like this one. As with all other versions of this exhibition event, it will be broadcast by Turner Sports on TNT.
Woods and McIlroy recently co-founded TMRW Sports, a company that is “harnessing technology to build progressive approaches in sports, media and entertainment” and announced their impressive investor list on Wednesday. This version of The Match is not affiliated with TMRW Sports despite the business partners’ involvement.