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When they announced recently that Tiger Woods and Peyton Manning would be playing Phil Mickelson and Tom Brady in The Match 2, I was excited like everyone else because we haven’t had a lot of sports over the past few months but I was also a little skeptical because I wasn’t sure the event couldn’t live up to expectations and would be a dud.
Thankfully, it was absolutely perfect, as Tiger and Peyton grinded to a 1-up win over Phil and Brady and, more importantly, raised $20 million in the process for COVID-19 relief efforts.
The day started with a monsoon in South Florida and for a short while it looked like this thing might not even happen. But the heavy stuff relented a little bit, Peyton made a joke on the range about Bill Belichick, and then they were off and running on the course.
Once the golf began, Brady got to show us just how fun and silly this beautiful game can be. This six-time Super Bowl champ was dreadful thru the first six holes and even had Charles Barkley talking trash to him. Then on his fourth shot on the par-5 seventh, Brady holed out for birdie from well over 100 yards… because of course, that’s what golf is like. Oh, and Brady split his pants while taking the ball out of the hole, which was also perfect.
Sunday was perfect because we got to see Brady struggle and battle through something in ways we haven’t seen him do during his legendary career. He kept fighting as he so often has and sunk an eagle putt on the back 9 that made things even more interesting down the stretch.
It was perfect because we got to watch Manning start off his round the same way so many of ours start off – hitting it into the woods and needing to take a drop – on his very first shot!
It was perfect because we got to listen to Phil as he gave a quick chipping lesson before almost sinking his chip shot. It was fantastic TV for golf nuts like myself.
It was perfect because we got to see and hear Tiger making fun of Phil’s calves.
It was perfect because we got to hear Peyton explaining why there was no way in hell that he’d wear red and black like Tiger.
It was perfect because down the stretch the only one who was really talking was Phil, who always loves to talk. The other three players were in full grinding mode like we’ve seen from them throughout their careers. They all wanted to win and were locked in, including Phil, who was also locked in while also talking a lot. It’s just who he is.
It feels great to have more live sports popping back into our lives and spending a Sunday afternoon on the couch watching some fun, live golf felt so darn good.
In fact, it was perfect.
The weekend’s biggest winner: Mike Tyson.
The legendary boxer was a special guest at All Elite Wrestling’s massive Double or Nothing event on Saturday night and while he didn’t wrestle, he did rip off his shirt and the 53-year-old ridiculously ripped again. This doesn’t mean, however, that he should return to boxing.
Quick hits: NASCAR umbrella blunders… Jordan hasn’t seen the memes… Fake crowd noise works… And more!
– NASCAR was back Sunday night with the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte and boy did some drivers have a hilariously tough time with their umbrellas during a rain delay.
– Michael Jordan’s daughter claims her dad hasn’t seen the new memes from “The Last Dance“and I’m not buying it. Jordan sees and hears everything, which we learned in the great docuseries.
– FS1 used some fake crowd noise during a Bundesliga match and… it was actually pretty good.
– Eli Manning finally joined Twitter this week… and Tom Brady had some fun with him.