Match 3 results, highlights: Phil Mickelson, Charles Barkley easily beat Stephen Curry, Peyton Manning

From the start of The Match: Champions for Change, it was clear that Phil Mickelson and Charles Barkley shouldn’t have been the big outsiders. Although Peyton Manning and Stephen Curry beat them on the first hole, Barkley did drive, and it was clear their team chemistry was going to play well since, you know, they had a big five-time winner hitting half the shots. shots.

Four hours later, Lefty and Chuck beat Curry and Manning 4 and 3 in the third installment of this series, and that first hole was the only time all day they were lagging behind. The strategy was straightforward for Mickelson and Barkley in the modified alternate fire format. Barkley was hitting irons off the tee of his “Chuck tees” (still 50-70 yards in front of everyone), and Mickelson was hitting approach shots. Barkley – apparently a handicap of 25 – proved to be a good lag putter, while Curry and Manning struggled.

After a loss on the first hole, Mickelson and Barkley deployed their strategy to perfection, making two consecutive birdies and pulling four consecutive holes before Curry and Manning could catch their breath. That’s more or less where the score stayed for the rest of the game.

Mickelson and Barkley played the first peer nine – a minor miracle to come given the condition of Barkley’s golf swing – and also hit the first hole of the back nine. The question at this point was only which take would be the last, and at some point, Barkley urged TNT executives to run old reruns of “Law & Order” because the match was going to end so quickly.

While it lasted the allotted four hours, it was tough getting there for Curry and Manning, who managed to birdie only one, which came in at the 15th (and final) par-5 hole. He tied a Mickelson-Barkley bird on the same hole, which ended the game and gave the group of old men the victory 4 and 3.

As they left the final green, Mickelson said only two people believed he and Barkley could win this match, the second victory in three of those Match events for Lefty. It was exactly how one would expect Mickelson to act after a win.

Here are some of the highlights of The Match 3.

• Mickelson coached Barkley as if he was Bear Bryant prepping Alabama for their SEC schedule. Lefty gave him the wind numbers, the location of the valley, and so much strategy to consider that I thought poor Charles was going to tell him to cool the jets at some point. He didn’t, however, and it worked.
• Barkley was rightfully a good lag putter and set Mickelson up for a lot of putts to win holes. It was clearly their strategy, and it was the right one, but it wouldn’t have worked if Barkley couldn’t find fairways off the tee with his irons.
• The rest of the TNT basketball broadcast team hopped on it at one point, and Shaquille O’Neal had the day’s line as Barkley lined up a putt: “Chuck, if you can’t read the words, how are you going to read green vegetables? “
• Manning was self-deprecating and played well, but Curry seemed a little nervous all day. His swing is butter, and it seems unfair that someone with that jumper also has that swing, but on the Andre Iguodala show kept saying “plus 1 handicap?” every time he hit a bad shot, it was quiet the funniest part of the day.
• The only chance Manning and Curry had to win was to request that the game be played over 36 holes. Barkley started to fade towards the end and was having trouble concentrating after current broadcaster Gary McCord stole some of his snacks. Mickelson definitely wore it late.
• I wondered aloud several times throughout the round how much I could legally bet on Mickelson (apparently a +5 handicap) against Curry (+1 handicap). That gap wasn’t four strokes today, although you can tell from Curry’s swing that he can play quite a bit.
• One thing solidified today is that Mickelson is going to be wild as the captain of the Ryder Cup. No one ever liked being asked how to hit a golf shot more than him. No one has ever liked talking about golf with people who they know are better than (currently or historically) more than they are. It will be a spectacle.

Add it all up, and the third edition of the Match – while not as powerful as one of the first two because Tiger Woods wasn’t involved – was fun and entertaining. The outcome didn’t matter as funds were raised for the HBCUs and a beautiful product was shown on TV for a golf-hungry post-Thanksgiving crowd. It was a pleasure to watch – mainly because Barkley and Mickelson can talk in a circle around anyone and everyone – and hopefully not the last of those we get.