The Match Recap: As the night's worthy winners, Thomas and Spieth looked unstoppable

In a video posted by the PGA Tour at the conclusion of the latest edition of The Match – won by Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth 3 and 2 – Thomas and Spieth jump on a viral trend and ask their opponents, Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy: “What happened?”

Spieth stepped in first and asked, “How do you lose to us two?”

And Thomas, with the exclamation point: “It’s alright,” he said, “everybody does.”

Hyperbole, that isn’t.

Thomas and Spieth proved again – in a 12-hole exhibition under the lights in west Florida – why they are the most formidable duo in men’s golf.

While there were plenty of questions around Woods’ health heading into Saturday night’s match, with Woods having withdrawn from the Hero World Challenge (which he hosts) last week, Thomas and Spieth were not losing on this night.

“The joy out of getting this does not match the joy of standing here with Tiger just being so upset he has to stand here for this,” said Spieth with a laugh as the hardware was being passed out.

“It’s true,” Woods replied.

Woods seemed to be in decent enough form, swing-wise. He was often clocking ball speeds around 178 mph with his driver, right up there with his much-younger fellow competitors. His action looked solid, despite suffering from plantar fasciitis and still in recovery mode from the terrible car accident he was in in early 2021. His timing was off on occasion, however (which will likely be how he misses moving forward as his oft-injured lower body will struggle to keep up with his upper body) which caused a few poor shots.

McIlroy, meanwhile? It was just not his night.

Exhibit A: During the one-club challenge hole, McIlroy’s drive managed to find a divot in the fairway. In a four-man exhibition match. At 8 p.m.

A birdie on the 7th hole by McIlroy set up the lone winner for he and Woods. He added another on No. 10 but at that point it was too little, too late.

Still, Spieth and Thomas (childhood friends who just went 4-0 at this September’s Presidents Cup) made seven birdies in 10 holes in the best-ball format and looked dutifully unstoppable.

“Second place isn’t bad guys,” said Thomas with a sly grin at the conclusion of The Match.

Thomas and Spieth were worthy winners, but here’s the rest of the best from Saturday and the seventh edition of The Match.

MATCH BREAKDOWN

Hole 1: Tie

Hole 2: Won by Spieth/Thomas (Thomas birdie)

Hole 3: Won by Spieth/Thomas (Spieth birdie)

Hole 4: Won by Spieth/Thomas (One-club challenge; Thomas made par with a 5-wood)

Hole 5: Tie

Hole 6: Tie

Hole 7: Won by Woods/McIlroy (McIlroy birdie)

Hole 8: Won by Spieth/Thomas (Thomas birdie)

Hole 9: Tie

Hole 10: Won by Spieth/Thomas (Spieth birdie/Match over)

BEST CHIRP (ON GOLF)

On the par-3 9th, Woods had a chance to make a birdie and start some semblance of a comeback. Prior to the stroke, the mics caught Spieth telling Thomas that he’d love to see Woods “do the (PGA Championship) walk-it-in” referring to 2000 when Woods, in a playoff to win the Wanamaker Trophy, began running after his ball that eventually found the bottom of the cup on the first extra hole.

Thomas replied about the elder statesman in the group, “Yeah, it’ll just take a little longer now.”

Trevor Immelman, one of the analysts, said, “That is ruthless.”

Ruthless, but funny.

BEST CHIRP (NON-GOLF)

Take your pick of Charles Barkley’s efforts – and there were plenty – but the best had to go to Thomas, who was the perfect foe to Barkley all night, whether it be the pair going back-and-forth on Thomas’ wedding, Barkley’s swing, or the Auburn/Alabama rivalry.

The broadcast crew, and the golfers, were all fascinated by the moon over Pelican Golf Club Saturday night, and Barkley especially so.

Thomas provided a reason as to why that may have been.

“Chuck’s looking at the moon like it’s an Oreo,” said Thomas.

BEST SHOT

The final approach of the day hit by Jordan Spieth.

After his drive on No.10 left him slightly out-of-position, he ended up hitting a cut shot around a tree from a patch of pine straw. It was aggressive – needing to hug a pond – but totally Spieth-like. It ended up just six feet from the hole and he rolled in the birdie to win the match. So good.

BEST PUTT

The birdie on the par-4 2nd from Justin Thomas.

It was early still, but Thomas’ epic roll from about 25 feet on the second hole set the tone for the rest of the match. The downhill, left-to-righter was centre-cut all the way, and he hit McIlroy and Woods with a Michael Jordan-type shrug. Incredible.

MOST WHOLESOME MOMENT

In a video recorded by her husband, Annika Sorenstam – who many consider the greatest golfer in the history of the LPGA Tour and who will have an LPGA Tour event named after her played at Pelican GC next year – introduced her golf-mad son, Will, to Woods.

“I’m Tiger!” he said with a big smile.

Awesome.

Sorenstam and Woods teamed up to defeat Karrie Webb and David Duval in a made-for-TV exhibition in 2001.

MORE NIGHT GOLF!

The Match teed off at 7 p.m. ET, which was about 90 minutes after sunset in Belleair, Fla. Tournament operations staff had erected plenty of lights all around Pelican Golf Club to allow the best in the world to play under the lights.

It was a bit of a catch-22, as the floodlights provided epic scenes, and the shot-tracer on dark backdrops was awesome to see on TV. For the players, however, it was tricky, with the shadows and the freshening moisture on the greens after sunset making things difficult.

That said, this was an entertainment product and the entertainment value of night golf was extra special.

WHAT’S NEXT

Woods, Spieth, and Thomas are all set to tee it up at the PNC Championship (a parent-child event) next weekend.

Woods is the obviously main draw, as he and son Charlie will look to improve on their runner-up result from last year. On the telecast of The Match, Woods admitted his 13-year-old had finally out-drove him.

Thomas and his father, Mike, won the PNC Championship in 2020, while Spieth and his father, Shawn, are making their tournament debut.