PGA

Capital One's The Match is back for its seventh iteration. While casual fans may not be as excited about this edition as past ones—it doesn't feature non-PGA athletes like Peyton Manning or Stephen Curry—golf purists should be thrilled.

PGA legend Tiger Woods is back for his third appearance in The Match, and he'll be paired with the No. 1-ranked golfer in the world, Rory McIlroy. They'll face off against the team of Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas.

While The Match VII doesn't carry the novelty of an NFL quarterback duel—the last edition pitted Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers against Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen—it should still be a ton of fun.

Woods is notorious for being one of the top competitors in the sport, and he's very familiar with McIlroy. The two co-founded TMRW Sports. Thomas and Spieth, meanwhile, are longtime friends.

All four participants have faced off on the PGA tour.

Fans can expect a lot of quality golf, some tight competition and, likely, a fair bit of trash talk. Here's what you need to know.

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Capital One's The Match VII

Who: Woods/McIlroy vs. Spieth/Thomas

Where: Pelican Golf Course in Belleair, Florida

When: Saturday, 10 December

Time: 6 p.m. ET

TV: TNT, TBS, truTV and HLN

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Odds (from FanDuel):

Spieth/Thomas -125 (bet $125 to win $100)

Woods/McIlroy +100 (bet $100 to win $100)

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Format and Rules

One interesting aspect of The Match VII is that it will be played at night. Pelican Golf Course features an open environment, which is perfect for temporary lighting and a prime-time event.

"The way the golf course is laid out, I would call it a parkland, especially the back nine,” said Justin Sheehan, Pelican's director of golf, per Jeff Eisenband of PGATour.com. “It's pretty open. We have minimal rough, so it's got a really nice big open feel, which is why it's so good for a tournament. It's easier than most golf courses would be to put light trucks in place. We're not going through woods and marshes and tons of water.”

The Match will also feature custom golf carts, which should help Woods, who withdrew from last month's Hero World Challenge with plantar fasciitis.

The Match carts are 🔥

See them in more detail: https://t.co/YUKo8XOakA pic.twitter.com/6WC1UAph5X

— Golf Digest (@GolfDigest) December 5, 2022

As for, you know, the match itself, it will be a 12-hole competition of match play. Each team will receive a point when it wins a hole, with the most points after 12 deciding the winner.

Theoretically, though, the event could end well before all 12 holes are played.

If, for example, one team has a 4-1 lead and five holes have been tied, the other team cannot draw even over the final two holes.

The Match will also feature a best-ball format, which means that only the lowest score from each team will count on a given hole. This means that, hypothetically, Wood could triple-bogey a hole and still win if McIlroy's score beats those of Thomas and Spieth.

This is perhaps one reason why the odds are fairly close to even. Spieth and Thomas may be the more complete team—Woods is banged up and no longer in his prime—but one of them still has to outplay McIlroy.

And as with all iterations of The Match, this is first and foremost a charity event. The Match VII will serve as a platform to benefit Hurricane Ian relief efforts.

It's going to be an entertaining experience and for a good cause, so fans should be sure to tune in this Saturday.

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Rory McIlroy said he gave Tiger Woods COVID-19 ahead of The Open at St. Andrews this past season.

McIlroy and Woods played together at the JP McManus Pro-Am in Ireland over a week before the British major in July. McIlroy first felt some symptoms during the round, but he said things got much worse two days later, as he explained to Paul Kimmage of the Independent (h/t ESPN):

I slept for maybe two hours and the sweat was just pouring off me, then [his wife] Erica took my temperature and it was sky high. I rang Tiger: 'I'm not feeling so good here.' And he goes, 'Oh, I feel OK.' But he texted me at 10 o'clock that night, chills, fever, and I'm like, 'F---ing hell, I've just given Tiger COVID! This is horrendous!' So we both had COVID going into The Open.

McIlroy said he never actually tested positive for COVID-19 before The Open, although he said he lost the sense of taste during the Champions Dinner on Tuesday night ahead of the tournament.

"The whole week of The Open I didn't have any taste, and everything smelled like vinegar to me," McIlroy said. "Everything. It was really strange."

The 33-year-old still played in the tournament and fared well, finishing in third place at 18 strokes under par. McIlroy led the field going into the final round before getting passed by Cameron Smith on the back nine.

It was still his first top-10 finish at The Open since winning it in 2014.

Woods didn't have as good of a performance in his final turn at the historic St. Andrews golf course. The 46-year-old was recovering from a leg injury suffered in a 2021 car crash, and he struggled to a plus-nine finish while missing the cut.

It's unknown whether the illness passed from McIlroy had any effect on the round, although it likely didn't help.

Tiger Woods announced Monday he won't be competing in the Hero World Challenge, the annual event he hosts to benefit his charitable foundation.

Woods said he developed plantar fasciitis in his right foot and decided to withdraw on the advice of his doctors and trainers:

pic.twitter.com/C2HPgSSCAK

— Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) November 28, 2022

The Hero World Challenge, which tees off Thursday in Albany, Bahamas, would've been Woods' first tournament since the Open Championship in July.

The 46-year-old has battled a series of injuries that accumulated over his legendary career and steadily limited his availability on the PGA Tour. His February 2021 car crash raised new concerns about whether he'd ever golf competitively again.

Woods made his return at the 2022 Masters, opening with a one-under 71 in the first round before falling off and finishing 47th at 13 over. He entered the PGA Championship in May but withdrew after the third round. Then came his missed cut at St. Andrews.

Despite all of the setbacks, the 15-time major champion remains the most popular golfer in the world. For the second year in a row, he sat atop the leaderboard for the PGA Tour's Player Impact Program, which broadly rewards the stars who bring the most attention to the tour.

While Woods ruled himself out for the Hero World Challenge, he remains committed to playing in the PNC Championship, a two-day tournament in which golfers team up with their sons.

Tiger and Charlie Woods were runners-up to John Daly and John Daly II in last year's event.

Tiger Woods is loading up his schedule for the end of the year.

The legendary golfer announced on Wednesday he will take part in the Hero World Challenge, marking his first official tournament since the 2022 Open Championship in July.

I am excited to announce that I will be in the field for this year’s #HeroWorldChallenge. A big welcome to @K_Kisner and @TommyFleetwood1 for joining us as well. See you soon at Albany!

— Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) November 9, 2022

Woods only played nine rounds on the PGA Tour during the 2022 season. The Masters marked his first tournament since the single-car crash in February 2021 that saw him face the possible amputation of his right leg.

"I’m lucky to be alive and to still have the limb," Woods told reporters in November 2021. "I’m very grateful that someone upstairs was taking care of me … (amputation) was on the table."

Woods made the cut at Augusta and finished 47th. He also played the PGA Championship in May and Open Championship. The 46-year-old posted a season-low score of 69 in the second round of the PGA Championship but withdrew before the final round after shooting a 79 on Saturday.

In what may have been his final appearance at St Andrews, Woods missed the cut after finishing nine-over par in 36 holes at the Open Championship.

Woods has taken an active role in helping PGA Tour players and commissioner Jay Monahan find ways to combat the rise of LIV Golf. He helped lead a meeting of several top players, including Rory McIlroy and Xander Schauffele, in August to solidify everyone on the Tour's next steps.

"I think it's pretty apparent that whenever we all get in the room, there's an alpha in there, and it's not me," McIlroy told reporters after the meeting.

While it's unclear what Woods' schedule for 2023 will look like, his caddie did offer some insight during an appearance on The Dan Patrick Show over the summer.

Joe LaCava told Dan Patrick (starts at 13:30 mark) in July he hopes Woods plays in the Hero World Challenge, followed by the PNC Championship in a pair with his son, Charlie, and at least one other tournament before the Masters in April.

Woods was recently announced as one of the participants in the latest iteration of Capital One's The Match. He will team with McIlroy to take on Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth on Dec. 10.

The Hero World Challenge, which debuted in 2000, is hosted by Woods and benefits his charity organization. He has won the event five times but hasn't played the tournament since December 2019.

This year's Hero World Challenge will be held at Albany Golf Course in the Bahamas from Dec. 1 to 4.

Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy will take on Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth in the latest edition of Capital One's The Match, set to take place Saturday, Dec. 10, on the Warner Bros. Discovery family of networks.

The event will begin at 6 p.m. ET on TNT, with simulcasts available on TBS, truTV and HLN. Bleacher Report’s platforms will also provide expansive coverage leading up to the event and during the competition.

🚨 TIGER & RORY. VS. SPIETH & JT. 🚨

GOLF UNDER THE LIGHTS. #CapitalOnesTheMatch returns Dec. 10 at 6pm ET on TNT pic.twitter.com/2Sb4Rxkidj

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) November 7, 2022

The seventh edition of the Sports Emmy-nominated event will take place at Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Florida, and feature four of golf's brightest stars going head-to-head in a 12-hole competition.

This will mark just the third time Capital One's The Match has not featured a non-golf celebrity. The previous two instances saw head-to-head matchups between great golf rivals when Woods took on Phil Mickelson in the inaugural event and Bryson DeChambeau took on Brooks Koepka last November.

The most recent edition—Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers vs. Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes in June—did not feature any professional golfers.

Woods will make his third appearance in the series, which puts him one behind Phil Mickelson for the most all-time. The 15-time major winner has not played competitive golf since missing the cut at the Open Championship in July as he recovers from injuries suffered in a 2021 car crash.

McIlroy, Thomas and Spieth will all make their first appearances in the event. Woods and McIlroy were in the news in August when their TMRW Sports company announced TGL, a tech-based golf league that will debut in January 2024.

Capital One's The Match has raised $33 million for charitable organizations since its launch in 2018.

Bryson DeChambeau will remain in LIV Golf's lawsuit against the PGA Tour because he believes he's owed a $1.75 million Player Impact Program bonus from the PGA Tour after only being paid half of the $3.5 million he said he should have earned for finishing fifth in 2021.

"It's not about the money; it's about the principle," he told ESPN's Mark Schlabach. "It's the way you deal with situations."

The PGA Tour's requirements for receiving the bonus were twofold: Participate in a PGA Tour event he hadn't played in across the previous four seasons, and participate in a charity event.

DeChambeau did the first at the Valero Texas Open in April. He said he attempted to fulfill the second requirement in May, but the PGA Tour said he wouldn't satisfy the requirement because he was no longer a PGA Tour member in "good standing."

While he didn't officially join LIV Golf until June, rumors had persisted since February that he was going to be one of the defectors.

"They said because you're not in good standing, we're not allowing you to do something to help out junior golf and junior golfers," DeChambeau told Schlabach. "To me, that's childish. It just shows where they stand emotionally. I respect and understand it, but when you've completed something and provided entertainment for them last year, that's the reason I'm in the lawsuit."

DeChambeau signed a contract with LIV Golf that reportedly is paying him more than $125 million.

He was one of 11 players suing the PGA Tour for attempting to monopolize the sport and discourage competition from other leagues like LIV Golf. The Saudi-backed league, which has been accused of being a sportswashing operation given Saudi Arabia's human rights violations, then joined the suit as a plaintiff.

Since then, eight players have removed themselves from the lawsuit, including Phil Mickelson. But DeChambeau remains.

"It's really been frustrating over the last six years that I've had to deal with [the PGA Tour]," he said. "It's consistently frustration after frustration of them not handling things correctly."

Grayson Murray was forced to withdraw from the 2022 Butterfield Bermuda Championship suffering injuries in a scooter accident on Tuesday, per Averee Dovsek of Golfweek.

Glenn Jones of NBC Sports Boston provided an initial look at the accident:

🚨BREAKING @PGATOUR
Source: Pro golfer Grayson Murray in Bermuda for @Bermuda_Champ seriously injured in rental scooter accident. Likely out of tournament. Caddie also hurt. @GolfChannel pic.twitter.com/hxEWUJmyYx

— Glenn Jones (@GlennBostonTV) October 26, 2022

According to Dovsek, Murray collided with a vehicle while steering around a bend. He was transported to a hospital, where he received 50 stitches, including 25 on his face and 10 on his leg.

The golfer also believes he suffered ligament damage in his knee.

"Honestly, I'm pretty fortunate because the helmet saved me. If it wasn't for my knee and stitches in my left hand, I would try to play," Murray said of the accident. "It is nobody's fault. Riding on the opposite side of the road is already confusing and the roads in Bermuda are narrow and sketchy."

Tourists are not allowed to rent vehicles in Bermuda, leaving scooters as the best option to travel.

The Butterfield Bermuda Championship would have been Murray's first event of the 2022-23 PGA Tour season, ending last year with just one top-25 finish in 12 starts. He made the cut for the 2022 U.S. Open, but finished in 63rd at +18.

Since turning pro in 2015, the 29-year-old has one PGA Tour victory: the 2017 Barbasol Championship.

Alternate Johnson Wagner will take Murray's place in the Bermuda field.

Augusta National, the United States Golf Association and PGA of America have been added to the Department of Justice's ongoing antitrust investigation into the PGA Tour, per Louise Radnofsky and Andrew Beaton of the Wall Street Journal.

On Aug. 3, 11 players who left the PGA Tour to join the LIV Golf International Series filed an antitrust lawsuit against the PGA to challenge the circuit's decision to suspend them from Tour-sanctioned events.

Later that month, LIV Golf joined the lawsuit. As of September, at least seven players have removed their names from the lawsuit.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the scope of the DOJ's investigation is "wider than was previously known" with several of the most important governing bodies included.

Augusta National has turned over documents to the Justice Department as part of the investigation. Radnofsky and Beaton noted Augusta National is "featured prominently" in LIV's complaint.

"Augusta National representatives, the complaint says, threatened to disinvite players from the Masters if they joined LIV," Radnofsky and Beaton wrote. "The club's chairman Fred Ridley personally instructed a number of participants in last year's Masters to not sign on with LIV, it added. Ridley didn't respond to an email seeking comment."

Ridley is portrayed as having played "a central role" in the situation, including threatening the CEO of the Asian Tour with consequences if it continued its relationship with LIV Golf.

LIV Golf and the MENA Tour announced an alliance earlier this month, with the hope of increasing the exposure of the MENA Tour and making LIV golfers eligible to earn points in the Official World Golf Rankings.

A spokesperson for the USGA told Radnofsky and Beaton it "intends to fully comply with any and all requests" related to the probe.

LIV's antitrust lawsuit claims the PGA Tour has been using its monopoly power in an attempt to squash any competition and unfairly discipline LIV players.

World Golf Hall of Famer Greg Norman, the CEO of LIV Golf, met with a Republican Study Committee in Washington, D.C., last month to discuss the antitrust lawsuit and competitiveness issues involving the PGA Tour.

Per Emily Brooks of The Hill, Norman received "pushback" from members of the committee.

"Don't come in here and act like you're doing some great thing while you're pimping a billion dollars of Saudi Arabian money and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the United States," Texas representative Chip Roy told reporters about the meeting with Norman.

Roy also described Norman's efforts as “PR for Saudi Arabia—it's PR for LIV Golf."

LIV has been criticized because many see it as a way for Saudi Arabia to engage in sportswashing—using sports teams, leagues and events to distract from a nation's abuses and improve its reputation globally. The Saudi Public Investment Fund, which operates the golf tour, purchased the Premier League's Newcastle United in 2021 and has also recently invested in hosting Formula 1 and WWE events. The Saudi regime has been accused of numerous human rights violations, including the murder of Washington Post reporter Jamal Khashoggi.

During the first LIV Golf event in England from June 9-11, the PGA Tour announced it suspended all 17 members of the Tour who participated in the tournament. It said players who participated in future events would also be suspended.

Anyone holding out hope for some sort of truce between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf will likely be disappointed, according to Rory McIlroy.

In an interview with Ewan Murray of The Guardian, McIlroy said the feud between the two golf circuits is "out of control" and the damage will likely be "irreparable" if both sides keep going the way they have been.

"We are going to have a fractured sport for a long time," he added. "That is no good for anyone."

The launch of LIV Golf immediately caused a fracture among several players who jumped ship from the PGA Tour to the controversial new circuit.

LIV is funded by the Saudi Arabia government in what's seen as an attempt to improve its reputation around the world through "sportswashing."

Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson, Bubba Watson and Bryson DeChambeau are among the notable players who signed on with LIV Golf.

The PGA Tour announced in June any players who took part in the first LIV event would be suspended, and anyone who participated in future events would face the same discipline.

In a September interview with ESPN's Mark Schlabach, PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan said he doesn't see a way in which the PGA Tour and LIV can coexist.

"The answer to that is they've gone down their path and I think we have been pretty consistent that we're going down ours, and I don't see that happening. Haven't, and I don't," he said.

Given the amount of money LIV Golf has already spent to sign players, with no indication the spending will slow down, the PGA Tour has taken steps to provide more financial incentives for its players.

The Tour announced in August the addition of four more "elevated" tournaments that have a purse of at least $20 million each. There will be a total of 12 elevated tournaments starting in 2023.

Monahan also said the PGA received a commitment from top players to participate in at least 20 tournaments next season.

LIV Golf is still seeking to be recognized by the Official World Golf Rankings so its members can earn points and be ranked alongside players from other major circuits.

Greg Norman, CEO of LIV Golf, visited Washington, D.C., last month to lobby members of Congress after the circuit filed an antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour amid claims it used monopoly power to squash any competition and unfairly suspend LIV players from tour-sanctioned events.

Per Emily Brooks of The Hill, Norman received pushback from multiple Republican House members among many topics, including LIV's ties to Saudi Arabia and the league not registering as a foreign agent.

McIlroy and Tiger Woods are the two biggest stars on the PGA Tour. They have taken an active role in trying to figure out ways for the circuit to maintain its status as the premier golf organization in the world amid the rise of LIV.

The war of words between Rory McIlroy and Phil Mickelson continued Wednesday, with the PGA Tour star disagreeing with Lefty's assessment of the state of men's professional golf.

Before last week's LIV Golf event in Saudi Arabia, Mickelson said joining the new circuit has put him "on the winning side of how things are going to evolve and shape in the coming years for professional golf."

Speaking to reporters ahead of the CJ Cup, McIlroy explained why "anyone that takes a logical view of the game of golf" would disagree with Mickelson's assessment:

"I guess for them to be talking the way they are, it's bold. I think there's a ton of propaganda being used and all sorts of stuff. I certainly don't see the PGA Tour trending downward at all. All the talent, 95% of the talent is here. You've got people like Tom Kim coming through [who is] the future of our game."

Mickelson also said members of LIV Golf and the PGA Tour need to sit down to work out some of their issues, but that he sees LIV "trending upwards" and "the PGA Tour trending downwards and I love the side that I'm on."

LIV golfers don't receive points in the Official World Golf Rankings because the circuit isn't officially accredited by the OWGR. Dave Shedloski of Golf Digest noted on Oct. 6 that LIV's partnership with the MENA Tour may have been an attempt to circumvent the OWGR review process for eligibility.

As LIV has tried to build a case for being a legitimate golf organization, LIV CEO Greg Norman met with a Republican Study Committee in Washington D.C. last month to discuss the circuit's validity.

Per Emily Brooks of The Hill, Norman received pushback from the conservative caucus due to LIV being financed by the Saudi Arabia government.

"Don’t come in here and act like you’re doing some great thing while you’re pimping a billion dollars of Saudi Arabian money and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the United States," Texas Rep. Chip Roy told reporters after the meeting.

Roy went on to say that Norman's efforts were "PR for Saudi Arabia—it’s PR for LIV Golf."

As LIV leaders continue to fight for the circuit's recognition, McIlroy has been outspoken about Mickelson and other golfers leaving the PGA Tour for LIV.

Mickelson was quoted by Alan Shipnuck in February for an upcoming biography as saying the Saudi Arabia government was run by "scary motherf--kers" who "killed [Washington Post reporter and U.S. resident Jamal] Khashoggi and have a horrible record on human rights," but joining LIV was "a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reshape how the PGA Tour operates."

McIlroy told reporters at the time that Mickelson's comments were "naive, selfish, egotistical, ignorant." He did back off that stance in May ahead of the PGA Championship.

"He’s made decisions, and, you know, he’s had to live with certain consequences of that," McIlroy told Sky Sports. "But I think at this point, it’s like, you know, OK, people could say there were some actions, but for the most part, they were words. And I think people can be forgiven for words."

McIlroy has taken a hard-line stance in favor of the PGA Tour. He and Tiger Woods led a players-only meeting in August in which they developed a plan to increase prize payouts.

PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan announced on Aug. 24 that top players on the circuit have committed to playing in at least 20 events in 2023 and 12 elevated tournaments will have average prize purses of $20 million.

The Player Impact Program, which rewards players who have the biggest positive impact on PGA Tour business, is doubling its total prize payout from $50 million in 2022 to $100 million in 2023.