| Jordan Spieth (left) and Justin Thomas defeated Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy Joe in the Capital One The Match held at Pelican Golf Club in Bel Air, Florida, USA on the 11th (Korean time). PGA Tour.com twitter capture |
In 1993, Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas, who were of the same age, defeated Tiger Woods (USA) and world No. 1 Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland).
Spieth and Thomas Joe defeated Woods and McIlroy Joe by three holes in the Capital One The Match held at the Pelican Golf Club in Bel Air, Florida, on the 11th (Korean time).
The Match, which opened its 7th tournament this year, decided the winner through a 12-hole match play method. It is evaluated that the trash talk (rough verbal fight), which was not usually seen, served as a condiment to make the game more interesting. During the game, Woods confessed, “(Son) Charlie sends a driver shot farther than me.” In particular, this year, the game was held under lights at night, creating a more unique atmosphere.
Woods, who returned to the field following regarding five months since the British Open (The Open) in July, played in a group with McIlroy, but the Spieth-Thomas Joe led the flow of the game from the beginning. In hole 2 (par 4), Thomas made a birdie putt of regarding 6m, and in hole 3 (par 3), Spieth widened the gap with a birdie putt of regarding 4.5m. In the 4th hole (par 4), Thomas ran away to the 3rd hole with the only par save.
After two holes were played without any change in score, Woods and McIlroy counterattacked on the 7th hole (par 5). McIlroy and Thomas left a birdie putt of regarding 3.5m side by side, and McIlroy succeeded in reducing the gap to two holes. However, the pursuit of former and current golf rankings ended here. Thomas caught a birdie in the 8th hole (par 3) and took the lead by 3 holes once more, and the game ended as it was without a game in the 9th (par 3) and 10th holes (par 4).
Woods did not compete in the Hero World Challenge hosted by his foundation last week due to pain from plantar fasciitis, but he did. This is Woods’ third participation since November 2018, when he competed in the first tournament with Phil Mickelson (USA). However, the performance in this competition is not good. In May 2020, defeating the Mickelson-Tom Brady pair by one hole in the same group as NFL player Peyton Manning was the only victory in the tournament.
Correspondent Oh Hae-won
