After Brady leveled the match with a, go determine, clutch putt on the tenth gap, Rodgers adopted go well with by draining a birdie putt on the twelfth and closing gap for the win.
“I felt really good about it, to be honest,” Rodgers mentioned afterward. “… I felt good about the line and, when I hit it, I knew it was going in. About four holes ago, things got pretty serious, and I think we buckled down a little bit because these two were playing really good and we didn’t want to come out of here with an ‘L.’ ”
Moments earlier than, Allen had almost sunk his birdie try from a lot farther away, however finally he and Mahomes had been left to congratulate their elder counterparts on their victory within the made-for-TV charity fundraising occasion.
Previous variations of “The Match” featured the likes of Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau, and on quite a lot of events Wednesday, the foursome’s play reminded the nationwide viewers that it wasn’t witnessing the very best potential commonplace of golf. Brady and Allen, specifically, hit their share of wayward photographs, however Rodgers once more proved regular within the occasion, following his successful efficiency on the “The Match IV” in 2021.
Brady referred to that showdown, during which he and Mickelson fell to Rodgers and DeChambeau, whereas praising the Green Bay Packers quarterback’s placing Wednesday. In every of the a number of instances he has performed with Rodgers, Brady mentioned, the previous has “made a 15-foot putt to win,” so “it didn’t surprise me when it went in” towards Mahomes and Allen.
Mahomes additionally acquired scorching together with his putter in Las Vegas. His daring on the greens went a good distance towards serving to him and Allen overcome an early 2-down deficit to take a 1-up lead after the eighth gap. Mahomes additionally received a long-drive problem with a 318-yard effort at No. 7 — which additionally occurred to be the one drive that discovered the golf green and thus was eligible for the competition.
Along the best way, the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback was pounding beers early and sometimes, which he defined was meant to counteract his group’s gradual begin.
“It’ll help me for a while, as long as I don’t drink too much of it,” Mahomes mentioned of his “swing juice” on the TNT telecast. “I was going to wait until the fourth hole, but I got down so I had to go and open one up a little bit early.”
As is all the time the case for “The Match,” the contestants wore microphones and regularly kibitzed with each other and a TNT asserting crew that included Charles Barkley. For his half, the Basketball Hall of Famer took benefit of the chance to take a shot at Shaquille O’Neal, his fellow TNT analyst, of whom Barkley mentioned, “That’s the one good thing about doing golf: I don’t have to be around that idiot.”
Early within the match, Brady held up a ball that includes a picture of the Lombardi Trophy printed on it and requested Allen whether or not he had “ever seen one of these.” The Buffalo Bills quarterback, the one member of the quartet who has but to win the Super Bowl, might solely flash a good-natured smile whereas replying, “I’ve seen one before.”
After hitting a ball fats and seeing it come up quick on a par-3, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback proclaimed of the shot: “A little chunky. I call that a little Josh Allen-y.”
Much of essentially the most notable trash-talk got here within the lead-up to the occasion, notably throughout a promotional convention name with reporters final week (by way of the Athletic), when Rodgers mocked Mahomes’s voice by referring to the Chiefs star as “Kermit the Frog.”
“Golf s— talk is a little different than pro football s— talk,” Brady mentioned then. “Usually pro football s— talk, you have to back that up. Josh really hasn’t backed much up on the football field in his career, let’s be honest — especially playing against me.”
When the 12 holes had been completed Wednesday, Brady once more acquired the higher of Allen.
“It was nerve-racking, for sure,” Allen, who admitted earlier within the day that he vomits earlier than each NFL sport, mentioned when “The Match” was over. “I didn’t compete how I wanted to today, but Pat went absolutely unconscious there for about five holes.”
“Obviously, we wanted to win, but we were able to give it a good run,” Mahomes mentioned. “Hopefully we can run this back — maybe next offseason.”