Did you see it? Any of it? It was absolutely amazing. And I’m not alone in that assessment.
According to Sports Media Watch, “the latest edition of “The Match” — pitting Tiger Woods and Peyton Manning against Phil Mickelson and Tom Brady — averaged 5.8 million viewers across TBS, TNT, TruTV and HLN Sunday afternoon, the largest golf audience ever on cable.”
It’s pretty obvious why it delivered the audience it did. A dearth of live sports on TV. Tiger, Phil, Tom & Peyton. Professional golfers versus amateurs (although it’s a little strange referring to Tom & Peyton as amateurs.) Brady’s split pants. His miserable play for a good part of the round (something every amateur golfer has experienced on the course).
Koepka’s challenge to Brady:
Brady’s redemption on #7, in spite of Charles Barkley’s trash talk.
Justin Thomas as on-course commentator. Phil’s on-going mentoring of Brady. Tiger’s phenomenal overall play. Peyton’s amazing iron play. The tricked-out carts. The rain. Medalist Golf Club in Hobe Sound, Florida. $20 million in donations to charities. The banter. And so on.
There was also a pretty special moment on #3, the Audi long-drive challenge for the pros. One of Phil’s sponsors is an enterprise-level software solutions company, Workday, that I used to work with as a consultant. Their CEO, Aneel Bhusri, texted Phil before the players hit their drives with an incredibly generous offer: a $1.5 million donation if Phil hit the longest drive. He didn’t but it was a great moment from a great CEO who runs a great company.
Spoiler alert: Tiger & Peyton won with a par on #18.
Did you see it? What did you think? Let me know in the comments.
The Image above courtesy of Getty Images/Ringer illustration. If I’m breaking any copyright rules, just let me know and I’ll take it down.
Northampton Consulting 