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Score one for the underdogs!
Phil Mickelson and Charles Barkley entered the latest iteration of The Match as an underdog betting on favorites Stephen Curry and Peyton Manning. However, 25-handicap Mickelson and Barkley did the job convincingly, winning 4 and 3 on Friday at the Stone Canyon Club in Oro Valley, Ariz.
“Two people thought this was going to happen: you and me,” Mickelson told Barkley as they exited the 15th green.
After losing the first hole, Mickelson and Barkley won four consecutive holes to take the lead. As Curry struggled with his game and Manning could not do much to take over, the two lost 4 after 10 holes. In total, they only won three holes.
While there are still plenty of classic Chuck shots to make things fun, Mickelson has performed well as a player, coach, and caddy to showcase a solid team performance.
Oh, and the joke wasn’t “bad” either.
Here are some of the most memorable moments of the day:
To: Chuck, From: Tiger
Barkley’s golfing ability and self-deprecating talent make him an easy target, so it’s no surprise that Tiger Woods’ needle found him.
Woods sent Barkley a few gifts ahead of the game, including a reflective vest and a hovercraft.
The joke, however, was mostly about Tiger. Barkley didn’t need any of his presents early on. He hit a cute baby draw on the first tee and didn’t miss a fairway until the fifth hole. And although Barkley did hit some foul balls later, the match was well underway by then.
Beginning of the club
Mickelson put on his caddy hat right away after bombarding a drive in the rough left at the opening hole. As Barkley assessed a corner kick, Mickelson shot the flag with his rangefinder.
“70 yards,” Mickelson said.
Barkley cut it a bit thin, sending the ball high above the flag and rolling it over the back fringe, about 24 yards from the flag.
Mickelson then conceded that he abused Barkley on purpose.
“He was actually 55,” he told Barkley. “I didn’t want to tell you this because I wanted you to be aggressive. … I underestimated your ability.
Pray for the zebras?
Steph Curry was by far the best dressed player on the course, and Phil Mickelson agreed: “I think he looks amazing.”
But Andre Iguodala, one of Curry Warriors’ former teammates who was on the broadcast team, disagreed.
“How many zebras must have died for you to appear to fly?” Joked Iguodala.
Ouch.
The Story of Gary Player of Barkley
Speaking of outfits, Barkley’s all-black outfit sparked a tweet from Gary Player.
“Glad to see Chuck channeled his inner dark knight with his all-black outfit today,” Player said. “Let’s go Chuck & Phil.”
Barkley went on to mention that he and the player recently brought it up.
“One of the highlights of my life was meeting Gary Player about six weeks ago,” Barkley said. “I’ve always wanted to meet him, we played a great round of golf and it was an honor and a privilege.”
Unsurprisingly, Player made a few comments about Barkley’s weight on their tour together.
“I’ll tell you what, it made me feel bad for being fat,” Barkley said. “He told me I had to go to the gym.”
Barkley’s Rowdy
Tiger and Gary weren’t the only ones laughing at Barkley’s expense. Barkley’s “NBA on TNT” colleagues – Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neal – joined the broadcast from their homes.
“I have $ 100,000 on Steph Curry,” O’Neal told Barkley, who cut his tee ball on the sixth hole in the middle of the trashy conversation.
Finally, Mickelson had had enough.
“I’m tired of your coworkers not respecting you,” he said before handing Barkley a dozen Callaway golf balls with Shaq’s logo on them.
Barkley’s next shot from the drop zone also missed the green.
“200,000 on Steph Curry,” O’Neal added.
“Where is the problem?” Kenny Smith asked Barkley as he walked to the green.
O’Neal then had the best zinger of them all as Barkley fielded a bird putt on Mickelson’s tee shot.
“Chuck, if you can’t read the words, how are you going to read the greens?” O’Neal asked.
Mickelson’s advice – “Calm your mind, my friend” – paid off, however, as Barkley snuggled up to a close to clinch the half after Manning threw up a short bird try.
“ Strong and arrogant movement ”
As Barkley faced a long bird putt from the fringe at the fifth hole, Curry had a chance to derail Manning and himself’s fourth shot and put some pressure on.
However, he avoided it.
With the ball still in its raw state, Mickelson decided to concede the bogey to his opponents.
“It’s a strong, arrogant move right there,” he told Barkley, who ended up falling behind three feet and setting up a Mickelson par for the hole.
‘I bought it’
Who Said The Super Bowl Has The Best Ads?
Chuckopotamus
Here is the bullet flight we are used to out of Chuck. Attention: this is not for the heart stem.
‘Sorry’
After Barkley declared the game almost over with him and Mickelson leading 3 on the turn, the pair climbed 4 after 10 holes. But Curry and Manning managed to pick one up on the 11th par 4 hole as Mickelson and Barkley spent some quality time in the wilderness.
Nice by Mickelson, although Barkley would later miss a double bogey putt.
As for the Barkley club’s throw? In Chuck’s words: Turrible!
Great – but meaningless – photo!
Not much happened for Curry and Manning on Friday.
Even this beauty of a bunker shot down by Steph, at No.12, resulted in a hole in the hole.
Great pic, but Curry still might not want to check his Twitter for a while. Better to let the plus-1 disability skepticism die out first.
Block or charge?
Well…?
And the winning putt …
Mickelson sealed the deal with this brand of bird, but man, wouldn’t it have been great if Barkley had drained the match winner instead?
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