10 Things We Learnt From The Match: Champions For Charity

Here are 10 observations on the entertaining match event.

10 Things We Learnt From The Match: Champions For Charity

The Match: Champions For Charity event has been widely regarded as a huge success in the last couple of days.

Tiger Woods and Peyton Manning beat Phil Mickelson and Tom Brady in a close match that delivered in terms of entertainment, golf and most importantly, money. $20 million was raised for Covid-19 relief efforts.

Here are 10 things we learnt from the event.

Tiger Looked In Great Form

Yes it was at his home course, Medalist Golf Club, and wasn't under tournament conditions but regardless Tiger looked very good indeed.

He was striping fairways and hitting crisp iron shots with ease whilst his putting was solid too. If he can continue to stay healthy the rest of the year, who knows maybe number 16 is on the cards.

Phil Is Still Struggling

He hit one of the shots of the day driving the 11th hole but other than that Phil appeared to be struggling with his swing. He missed more fairways than he hit and his irons were off too.

This performance continued a difficult season in which he has just one top-10 finish and he missed his last two cuts before the PGA Tour schedule was suspended.

Tour Players Think Of Everything

The video below of Mickelson explaining all the variables he was thinking about on a chip shot just shows how top players look at absolutely everything. It was fantastic to listen to.

Even Top Athletes Get Nervous

Brady and Manning have played on the biggest stages in all of sports several times thanks to all of their Super Bowl appearances.

However both were clearly very nervous throughout which just shows even top athletes get nervous on the course.

Yes the TV cameras, playing alongside Tiger and Phil, and the knowledge that a heck of a lot of people were watching may have had something to do with it, but all in all, they both performed and added to the entertainment.

Golf Without Fans

The Match showed us how watching golf tournaments without fans is going to be surreal. The positive to take from this is that we could see players and caddies reveal a bit more of their personalities.

Social Distancing Awkwardness

In this match and the TaylorMade Driving Relief event a week prior, there were several awkward moments between players that were hard to watch.

Rory's air-five with Dustin, and the no-five between Mickelson and Brady on the 11th are just two examples. Expect more to occur when golf resumes soon.

Brady Delivers When It Counts

Throughout the front-nine it seemed everyone watching was laying into the Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback. He was clearly nervous and struggling with his swing and yet he hit the shot of the day when he holed his fourth shot on the par-5 7th from outside of 100-yards.

Brady did eventually find his game too as he hit a lot several good shots on the back-nine to bring himself and Mickelson back into the match. Clearly the competitive juices started flowing...

Justin Thomas Could Be An Excellent On-Course Reporter

The American gave great insight into the shots the players would be hitting at a course which he can also call himself a member. He may have been stepping outside of his comfort zone, but he pulled it off very well.

More importantly he had some hilarious comments throughout the broadcast too.

Brady Is Still Livid About Losing To Philadelphia

Several times in the broadcast Brady acknowledged how annoyed he still is at losing to the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LII. He seems like the kind of athlete to be able to let stuff go, but clearly not.

We Are Desperate For Live Golf

The whole event was extremely entertaining and as a result the viewing figures were very high. The event drew an average of 5.8 million viewers on Sunday across the various Turner Sports channels, making it the most-watched combined golf telecast on cable TV. The event peaked at 6.3 million viewers.

It is important to acknowledge that between The Match: Champions For Charity and the TaylorMade Driving Relief event, more than $25 million was raised for Covid-19 relief efforts. Therefore golf clearly can play an important role in raising money and providing entertainment for everyone at this difficult time.

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