Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers now have bragging rights on the golf course over Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen after winning Capital One’s The Match on Wednesday.
The four NFL quarterbacks played a 12-hole golf exhibition at Wynn Las Vegas, where Rodgers drained a putt on the final hole to give his team a 1-up win.
While it was entertaining to watch the quarterbacks compete on the course, it was also for a good cause, raising enough money to donate 10,258,000 meals for Feeding America.
The competitors took the event seriously but also started the trash talk early. Allen said he would play the round with a golf ball that had a picture of a shirtless Brady taken at the 2000 NFL scouting combine.
Allen took some shots himself. When Brady hit a short shot, he said he hit it chunky and “Josh Alleny.”
There were quite a few errant shots in the match, with at least one spectator getting hit by a ball from Allen.
Allen told the commentators he gave the unlucky fan a glove as a souvenir.
Brady and Rodgers came out of the gates swinging, making birdie on the first two holes to go 2 up early in the round. Mahomes and Allen eventually came back, fueled by some clutch putts from Mahomes.
Mahomes had a two-putt birdie on No. 5 to bring the match square and made another putt late in the round to give his team the lead.
The trash talk subsided as the match got tighter and closer to the final hole. The only chirping late in the event came from match commentator Charles Barkley, who took shots at all of the quarterbacks, fellow commentator Trevor Immelman and even Basketball Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal.
Mahomes hit a shot on a par-3 to 7 feet, 6 inches from the hole, and match commentator Ernie Johnson said Mahomes hit it to about the length of O’Neal. Barkley took the opportunity to make a remark about his NBA broadcast partner.
“That’s the one good thing about doing golf, man, I don’t have to be around that idiot,” Barkley said. “It’s more beautiful when Shaq’s not here. My life is way better when he’s not around.”
Barkley helped keep things light as the quarterbacks were talking less and less as it got closer to the final hole. The match was all square going into the par-3 when Rodgers hit his tee shot on the green and sank his putt for the win. It was the first win for Brady, who entered Wednesday 0-2 in these exhibition matches.