Closing Shot: A Powerful Foursome

When Tiger Woods, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady and Phil Mickelson (L-R) showed up for practice, it was clear that they would have plenty to talk about.getty images

A day before Turner Sports produced “The Match: Champions for Charity,” Craig Barry had an indication that it would be much more competitive than a typical charity tournament.

At 8 a.m. on Saturday, May 23, Turner Sports’ executive vice president and chief content officer spotted Tom Brady doing wind sprints before teeing off for a practice round.

That same day, Phil Mickelson showed up for a rehearsal wearing the belt that he wore in 2018 when he beat Tiger Woods during the first iteration of “The Match.” According to Barry, Mickelson showed it off to Woods and Peyton Manning, saying, “I’m not sure if you guys will ever see one of these. This is what it looks like.”

He proceeded to wear the belt throughout Saturday’s practice round.

“Everybody was egging each other on,” Barry said. “It was clear that the banter between them was fueling a competitive matchup. …

“They were in great spirits — all four of them — from the time we got there to the time we spent in pre-production all the way until they showed up in the monsoon,” Barry continued. “They never wavered. They understood why they were there.”

Woods and Manning beat Mickelson and Brady during the rain-soaked charity event, held May 24 at Medalist Golf Club in Hobe Sound, Fla.

The event was a television hit, attracting 5.7 million viewers to the four channels that simulcast it: TNT, TBS, Headline News and TruTV. Turner said the 5.7 million viewers is the biggest audience to watch a golf event on cable TV — though viewership on broadcast television is higher.

The event raised $20 million for COVID-19 relief efforts — a figure that the golfers were focused on, though not to the detriment of their competitiveness, Barry said.

“Everybody understood from the get-go that the competition was to raise as much money for COVID relief as possible,” he said. “The innate competitiveness that they all have to win, to play good golf, never wavered. They were trash talking each other in front and behind the camera — it was clear that wasn’t something that was going to have to be manufactured.”

As an example, Barry pointed to the seventh hole when Brady sank a chip shot for a birdie after being taunted by Turner announcer Charles Barkley. Brady’s pants split when he retrieved his ball from the hole.

Turner announcer Brian Anderson asked Brady if they could talk about the shot. “He said that we should absolutely talk about it,” Barry said. “He opened the door for us to have a conversation about it. That’s the nature of where their heads were as they were competing. The pants splitting was completely secondary to the competition.”