In another edition of The Match, football fans will merge with golf fans Wednesday in Las Vegas to see NFL quarterbacks Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers put aside their personal competition with each other to team up against Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen.
The 12-hole exhibition will be a team event and, for the first time, will not feature any professional golfers. Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka have all participated in the past. But the pros will be on their couches with the rest of us to watch these big-time quarterbacks go head-to-head at Wynn Las Vegas.
Here are some of the bigger takeaways from The Match and some moments that stood out:
The fans are on high alert
Because there are no professionals playing in The Match, the actual golf has declined severely — with several shots sprayed off to the left and right. The quarterbacks are taking live lessons from former Masters winner Trevor Immelman, who is an analyst on the broadcast, to help fix their swings as they’re playing.
That includes Brady, who was pulling his tee shots to the left. Immelman told him to swing more out to the right, which then resulted in Brady pushing a shot far to the right.
Tom Brady couldn’t find anyone down field so he threw it away pic.twitter.com/emxBN0RSBS
— Toptracer (@Toptracer) June 2, 2022
Brady doesn’t often make mistakes on the football field, so it was a rare instance where people could relate to what was happening to Brady on the course.
Tom Brady has never been more relatable after that shank
— JJ Redick (@jj_redick) June 2, 2022
Unfortunately, those shots from the quarterbacks were traveling into the crowd of spectators. PGA Tour pro Smylie Kaufman was watching and noted the number of times the fans have had to duck.
The crowd at The Match needs to be wearing helmets and knee pads
— Smylie Kaufman (@SmylieKaufman10) June 2, 2022
Brady went there with Allen
The match got tight after Mahomes won the third hole with a birdie to bring Rodgers and Brady back to 1 up. Also, the trash talk started to get more personal.
Brady hit his tee shot a little short on the par-3 fourth hole and said it was a little chunky as he picked up his tee. He then took a shot at Allen by saying that’s what he calls “a little Josh Allen, a little chunky.”
“A little chunky, a little Josh Allen-y” 😭
Tom Brady taking out his frustration on his opponent
(@att) pic.twitter.com/HSEHpN8lsC— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) June 2, 2022
Allen laughed, but it was the first real jab that seemed like more than friendly banter.
Mahomes struggles early, grabs a beer
Mahomes and Allen were 2 down in the match after two holes, with Rodgers winning the first with a birdie and Brady missing an eagle putt and getting a gimme birdie to win the second.
Mahomes said he was going to wait until the fourth hole to crack open a beer, but getting down early caused him to reach for some “swing juice.” Never missing an opportunity for a sponsor shoutout, he called out Coors Light and showed off the silver bullet aluminum bottle as he took a sip.
Athletes… They’re just like us on the golf course 🤣 #CapitalOnesTheMatch pic.twitter.com/aYSeDILV2t
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) June 1, 2022
J.J. Watt, who is a commentator on the broadcast, asked Mahomes how many he’d need to get his confidence up. Mahomes was quick to say he can’t drink too many or it will have the opposite effect.
Josh Allen trolls Brady
Tom Brady has jokingly asked Twitter to remove his picture from the 2000 NFL draft where he is standing shirtless with long shorts on. Allen decided to troll Brady with the picture by handing him a golf ball with the picture printed on the side of the ball. Allen said he’s going to use the ball in the match.
Josh Allen just said he’s going to use a golf ball with Tom Brady’s shirtless NFL draft photo in The Match that’s about to start in 30 minutes. pic.twitter.com/uILORDwhgm
— Tom VanHaaren (@TomVH) June 1, 2022
Brady then responded on the first hole by showing his ball which had a picture of the Lombardi trophy on it. Brady has won seven Super Bowls, so he showed the picture and asked Allen if he has ever seen one before.
“Josh, have you seen one of these?” 🤣
Brady wasting no time with the trash talk #CapitalOnesTheMatch pic.twitter.com/nFEYDIM16w
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) June 1, 2022
Charles Barkley gets in on the action
Before the round, TV reporter Amanda Renner asked Aaron Rodgers what the wager would have to be to let Charles Barkley cut off Rodgers’ man bun. Rodgers asked if Barkley will give him some money after the round and grow his hair out if they win instead.
“You know I don’t like man buns, but you wear it well,” Barkley said. “I have to give you credit. In fairness, it’s only because you’re a great quarterback. If you were just like a plumber or something, it wouldn’t work. You are Aaron Rodgers, so you can get away with stuff.”
Rodgers said if Barkley beats him in a round at Tahoe on the 18th green, Rodgers will let him chop off his man bun. If Rodgers wins, Barkley will donate $25,000 to Rodgers’ favorite charity.
The trash talk started early
In a media availability, Rodgers explained that he and Brady came into the NFL when trash talk was actual trash talk. That now, football players are friendly and the trash talk has gone downhill.
“When we started [in the NFL], definitely when [Brady] started and when I started playing, there was actual, real trash talk. Like, guys trash-talked each other and there was a lot of good s— talk, and we knew who they were around the league,” Rodgers said. “And now, it’s more buddy-buddy, you know, social media following each other, memes, this emoji s—, and it’s not the same. So, when you talk about Kermit the Frog (Mahomes, per memes) and Josh [Allen] trying to s—-talk me and Tom, a couple old-school, grizzled vets … c’mon.”
If the early evidence is a sign of how this match will go, it looks like we’ll be in for a treat.
Brady started the chirping early on social media when he posted an edited picture, which was originally a shirtless Brady watching his son hit a golf ball. The edited version had Allen’s head on Brady’s son’s head.
An artists rendering of me watching @JoshAllenQB‘s approach after laying up on a par 4. pic.twitter.com/P66o4M1TGo
— Tom Brady (@TomBrady) April 18, 2022
Allen and Mahomes dug in on Brady and his joke-writing ability, saying he has a team of writers that takes care of his script for him. Allen said once Brady gets off script, he won’t be able to come back and hang with the younger guys throughout the entire event.
Mahomes played off of that joke on social media, retweeting an ad from Brady, saying he needs to talk to the writers of the joke.
I need to talk to whoever wrote this joke… 😡😂 https://t.co/hjYEJ1gdd2
— Patrick Mahomes II (@PatrickMahomes) June 1, 2022
Koepka even got in on the fun, taking a shot at DeChambeau, because why not? Koepka and DeChambeau have had their own feud, which played out in what was supposed to be a 12-hole exhibition of their own, going one-on-one against each other.
Koepka ended up beating DeChambeau in nine holes, so he tweeted good luck to everyone in this match, while also reminding anyone who forgot he needed only nine to beat his nemesis.
Have fun boys, let me know how the last 3 holes play🍿 #CapitalOnesTheMatch https://t.co/JYJQILOThI
— Brooks Koepka (@BKoepka) June 1, 2022
Brady is 0-2 in the event, so if the trash talk persists from his team, he will need to hope the play backs it up and gets him in the win column against the younger quarterbacks. Allen reminded Brady in the media availability that Father Time is undefeated.