Tiger and Rory vs. Spieth and JT

The foursome, with 25 majors between them, will play under the lights in Florida on Saturday, Dec. 10, with proceeds going to Hurricane Ian relief. The latest edition of “The Match” is now official, with Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy set to take on Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth under the lights on the west coast of Florida next month. Officially named “Capital One’s The Match,” this will be the seventh such exhibition under that banner, the first of which occurred in 2018 when Woods took on Phil Mickelson in an 18-hole “winner-take-all” match in Las Vegas, won by Mickelson. This is the third time that Woods will participate, and proceeds are going to Hurricane Ian relief efforts. It is the first appearance for McIlroy, Thomas and Spieth. The group has combined to win 25 major championships. The date for the 12-hole exhibition is Saturday, Dec. 10, at Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Florida, which is hosting this week’s Pelican Championship on the LPGA Tour. Lights are being set up to televise the match, which will be broadcast on TNT starting at 6 p.m. ET. Golf Digest and The Fried Egg websites first reported The Match last week. The event will also be simulcast on TBS, TruTv and HLN. The broadcast team has yet to be announced. The format, expected to be better-ball match play, is also to be announced. Pelican Golf Club is a 1925 Donald Ross design that underwent a major restoration in 2019 by Beau Welling—who happens to work on Woods’ golf course design team as well. Thomas and Spieth are longtime friends and rivals dating to their junior golf days. Woods and McIlroy recently spearheaded a player effort to move the PGA Tour toward a series of big-money required events known as elevated or “designated” events. McIlroy, who is the No. 1 player in the world, won the FedEx Cup in August. Thomas captured the PGA Championship in May. It is setting up to be a busy month for Woods. Although he has not yet announced if he is playing, Woods’ Hero World Challenge is Dec. 1-4 at Albany in the Bahamas. If he competes there, it will be his first time doing so since missing the cut at the British Open in July. He is also likely to play the PNC Championship with his son, Charlie, Dec. 17-18 in Orlando.

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Source: si.com