ORLANDO, Florida – The Sports Emmy award nominee “The Match” enters into a new area of competition when it brings together two of the top LPGA superstars Rose Zhang and Lexi Thompson, who will tee it up alongside four-time major champion Rory McIlroy and six-time PGA Tour winner Max Homa in a 12-hole skins match in the 9th edition of Capital One’s “The Match.” This showcase event will take place at The Park Golf Course, West Palm Beach, Florida on Monday night February 26th on TNT Sports.
Unlike prior versions of “The Match,” which were a team-against-team format, this version will be an individual competition. While there have been a couple of head-to-head matchups, there has never been one that the players were playing this format and competing individually against the other three players.
This time around, the game will be a skins format where each hole will be worth a certain dollar amount towards charity. Players will play from the same tees on the par 3s while using varying tee boxes on the eight remaining holes for the men and women. Whichever golfer raises the most money for charity through the winning skins will be crowned the champion.
“The Match” has shown itself not to be a well-received golf competition. “The Match” was staged in late June, with Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce grabbing the victory against Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry at the Wynn Golf Club. The NFL stars were the standout winners, but it was commercially not the most successful event, with only 782,000 fans watching.
The ladies may end up being the stars of the show. Rose Zhang, 20, has taken the golf world by storm in her short time on the professional stage. Turning pro last May, the Stanford product won in her LPGA debut.
The broadcasting team of Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Trevor Immelman, Christina Kim and Kathryn Tappen will provide commentary, supplemented by DJ Khaled and NHL analyst Paul Bissonnette.
Lexi Thompson, meanwhile, is no stranger teeing it up alongside men. She made history this past fall when she played in the Shriners Children’s Open on the PGA Tour. narrowly missing the cut. In that event, the 11-time LPGA winner and major champion proved her game is good enough to hang with her male counterparts.
If “The Match” is looking to increase its viewership this time around, it looks as though this might be the answer. Last December’s Grant Thornton Invitational saw Thompson and Zhang teamed up with Rickie Fowler and Sahith Theegala respectively and. It just might be a fun night to sit back and watch the next addition of “The Battle of the Sexes.”
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