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After a grueling week of play at the U.S. Open, the Payne’s Valley Cup exhibition at Tiger Woods’ new course design in Missouri — also entitled Payne’s Valley — was a nice reprieve and an enjoyable five hours from four of the best players in the world. Woods and Justin Thomas beat Europeans Justin Rose and Rory McIlroy in a faux Ryder Cup-style match that featured six holes of four-ball, six of alternate shot and seven of singles play that was capped by a closest-to-the-pin competition with two all-time greats — Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player — at the closing hole.
McIlroy and Rose got off to a hot start by winning the four-ball portion of the contest to take a 1-0 lead after six holes, but Woods and Thomas stormed back over the next six holes to notch a point of their own. In the singles, Woods and Rose were pitted against each other while McIlroy and Thomas recreated their 2018 Ryder Cup singles match. Rose turned it on and lit Woods up coming home after nearly making an ace at No. 16, but the best bit of the day belonged to McIlroy and Thomas.
McIlroy touched the lip on three of their holes, left a chip 1 inch from falling and birdied the 18th but somehow still J.T. by a hole going to the par-3 19th. Thomas could not stop laughing about his fortune, and at one point McIlroy joked that he was going to decline to give Thomas the ride home (think plane, not car) to Florida that Thomas was expecting.
Thomas birdied the 19th hole as the other four made par; the foursome teed it up next to Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player (that’s 48 majors on one tee box, if you’re counting) just for fun. That meant Rose beat Woods in their singles match and Thomas beat McIlroy 2 UP. The tiebreaker for the event, which ended 2-2, was whoever finished closest to the on the 19th, a cavernous hole surrounded by cliffs and water. J.T. was the winner there, which meant the Americans won overall.
The entire thing was a blast, and I’m not sure anyone really cared about the score. All four were trying to figure out who won when it was over. J.T. carried the day on television — as he often does — and Tiger’s first public course shined. It was a terrific encore to last week’s U.S. Open.
Throughout the round, we heard Rose and Woods talk about shafts, McIlroy and Thomas discuss pizza options (McIlroy is a Domino’s fan), and all four share a lot of intriguing banter that was neither trash talk nor forced. It was the perfect amalgamation for a mic’d up event like this one.
It was the last we’ll see of these stars for a few weeks, too. They’ll likely pop up in the middle of October for the events that were supposed to take place in Asia but are now being played in California and then the Masters in the middle of November.
It’s always a pleasure getting to watch this level of golf, even more so when we get to hear what players like these are thinking and why they do what they do (Rory explained why he put certain clubs in his bag for Winged Foot, for example). More of these four-man exhibitions would be great for golf and fun for everyone at home. And hey, if you pay close enough attention, you may even learn something from four of the best minds in the game today.
Closest-to-the-pin. ✅Birdie at the last. ✅@JustinThomas34 and @TigerWoods have won the Payne’s Valley Cup. 🏆 pic.twitter.com/QszxLmbkss
Rose is 1 up going to No. 19 (there are 19 holes!), and JT remains 1 up on Rory.
Rory finally makes a putt on No. 18 for birdie. JT will probably cover him up but still a nice putt.
Rose sends his long, and everybody is 10-12 feet away from the cup. JT is the tightest of anybody. Putts for the event coming up on 18.
Decent shots from Tiger and Rory out of the sand on 18. Rose and JT are both in there as well.
JT’s approach on No. 18 is short in the bunker. Big opportunity for Rory to get it back here.
JT hits a long one on No. 17 to go 1 up on Rory. Rory hit ANOTHER lip with his putt.
Rory burns a third straight edge (this time with a chip) and somehow his match with JT is still all square. Tiger-Rose tied up now, too.
Whoa, Justin Rose almost made an ace on No. 16. Incredible. Kick-in for him against Tiger, who will need to make a long birdie to tie him and keep a 1-up lead.
Who does our @WillGrayGC like this week at Corales Golf Club? Let’s take a look 👀Odds provided by our partner @PointsBet pic.twitter.com/ASw4DqkpEF
« You’ll feel a lot better if you say it. » 🤣@JustinThomas34 and @TigerWoods tried to nudge him, but @McIlroyRory wouldn’t bite. pic.twitter.com/Qj1T6rhB0B
Rory’s starting to feel it a little bit with his iron play. Fun to see, and he’s currently looking a little better than JT in singles play. They’re tied while Tiger is 1 up on Rose.
Can’t decide which I like more…DJ’s super-alpha strut or Rory’s extra-bouncy walk. Rory was like a pogo stick after that approach there.
JT birdies No. 14 to get to all square with Rory after Rory lips out birdie on the same hole. JT was trash talking the entire time, telling Rory, « You hate to see it. » I, on the other hand, love to see all of it.
JT saying that watching Cat score and get around when he doesn’t have his best stuff is the coolest was itself very cool.
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