From l-r: Rose Zhang, Lexi Thompson, Max Homa and Rory McIlroyJohn Nowak/TNT Sports
The ninth edition of the made-for-TV golf event "The Match" featured a mix of both PGA Tour and LPGA players last night as Max Homa, Rory McIlroy, Lexi Thompson and Rose Zhang teed it up in a 12-hole mixed skins match at The Park in West Palm Beach, Fla. But 12 holes weren’t enough to decide a winner and the event "went to a sudden-death playoff that featured a closest-to-the-pin challenge." McIlroy ended up hitting it closest to take his total on the night to $2.4M and "claim a golden Tiffany bracelet for his efforts." All four players were "complimentary of the experience," and the women who made their Match debut "hoped it was a sign of things to come." Zhang: "It’s definitely an inspiration for me and all the other younglings who are kind of growing the game." Homa "praised the setting and what the evening represented," saying, "This is what golf should be more like" (GOLFWEEK, 2/26).
The under the lights experiment "is working," as the "visuals are very tough to beat and this match in particular was so well lit you could follow the ball all the way through the night sky to the point it first landed." Also, the LPGA-PGA Tour crossover "might need to be the move going forward." People "want to see very good golf shots at very good courses," and this edition of The Match "checked both those boxes" (GOLF DIGEST, 2/26). The "best part of The Match is what happens in between shots" as it’s "one of the few times we get to hear the best players mic’d up while they’re on the course for the entirety of a round" (GOLF, 2/27).
