MIAMI • Tiger Woods and Peyton Manning held off a late challenge to beat Phil Mickelson and Tom Brady 1-up in a charity match in Florida on Sunday, raising US$20 million (S$28.5 million) for Covid-19 relief efforts.
Former world No. 1 Woods and retired National Football League great (NFL) Manning jumped out to a three-hole lead on the front nine at the Medalist Golf Club in Hobe Sound.
While the pair dominated the early holes through booming drives and solid putting, five-time Major winner Mickelson and six-time Super Bowl champion Brady won the 11th and 14th to shave the lead to one.
However, they were unable to force extra holes after Woods delivered a dagger putt on the 18th as darkness descended on his home course.
The shot of the day came from Brady on the seventh when he holed out from the fairway just after National Basketball Association great Charles Barkley, working as a commentator, had been giving the Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback a hard time for his poor start.
"Shut your mouth, Chuck," he said with a smile.
The NFL great also had some choice words for world No. 3 Brooks Koepka, crowing: "Brooks owes me a little money."
The four-time Major champion had tweeted earlier that he would donate US$100,000 to coronavirus relief efforts if Brady parred a hole on the front nine.
But 42-year-old Brady, who joined Tampa Bay in March after 20 years with the New England Patriots, had little time to revel in the moment.
After giving a short speech, telling his supermodel wife Gisele Bundchen and kids he loved them, Brady then split the seat of his pants while retrieving the ball from the cup, which he jokingly blamed on "too much torque" on his swing.
Woods, who lost to Mickelson in a US$9 million winner-take-all challenge in 2018, congratulated his opponents for their performance in the team match-play event, dubbed The Match: Champions For Charity.
"We all came together and were able to raise US$20 million for those that have been so severely affected," he said.
"I take my hat off to Tom and Peyton. This is our arena, this is what we do for a living. I couldn't imagine going on the field and do what they do."
The exhibition comes before the PGA Tour plans to resume its season at the Charles Schwab Challenge on June 11 at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas.
Woods last competed in February and then withdrew from a number of tournaments with a back injury before the PGA Tour decided to cancel a slew of events and later suspended the season in March because of the outbreak.
But the 15-time Major winner has declared he is fit and ready to go when the Tour resumes.
NYTIMES, REUTERS
