After an intense week of play at the U.S. Open, the Paynes Valley Cup exhibition at Tiger Woods new course design in Missouri– also entitled Paynes Valley– was a great reprieve and a satisfying five hours from 4 of the very best gamers in the world. Woods and Justin Thomas beat Europeans Justin Rose and Rory McIlroy in a synthetic Ryder Cup-style match that featured 6 holes of four-ball, 6 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 part of the contest to take a 1-0 lead after 6 holes, however Woods and Thomas stormed back over the next 6 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 getting back after almost making an ace at No. 16, but the very 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 decrease to provide Thomas the trip home (believe plane, not vehicle) to Florida that Thomas was anticipating.
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 6 holes, but Woods and Thomas stormed back over the next 6 holes to notch a point of their own. In the songs, Woods and Rose were pitted versus each other while McIlroy and Thomas recreated their 2018 Ryder Cup songs match. Thomas birdied the 19th hole as the other 4 made par; the foursome teed it up next to Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player (thats 48 majors on one tee box, if youre counting) just for enjoyable. That indicated Rose beat Woods in their singles match and Thomas beat McIlroy 2 UP.
Thomas birdied the 19th hole as the other four made par; the foursome teed it up beside Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player (thats 48 majors on one tee box, if youre counting) just for fun. That meant Rose beat Woods in their singles match and Thomas beat McIlroy 2 UP. The tiebreaker for the occasion, which ended 2-2, was whoever completed closest to the on the 19th, a spacious hole surrounded by cliffs and water. J.T. was the winner there, which indicated the Americans won total.
The whole thing was a blast, and Im not exactly sure anybody truly cared about ball game. All 4 were trying to find out who won when it was over. J.T. won on tv– as he frequently does– and Tigers first public course shined. It was a great repetition to last weeks U.S. Open.
Throughout the round, we heard Rose and Woods discuss shafts, McIlroy and Thomas discuss pizza options (McIlroy is a Dominos fan), and all four share a lot of appealing small talk that was neither garbage talk nor forced. It was the ideal amalgamation for a mic d up event like this one.
It was the last well see of these stars for a few weeks, too. Theyll likely turn up in the middle of October for the events that were expected to take place in Asia however are now being played in California and after that the Masters in the middle of November.
Its constantly a satisfaction getting to watch this level of golf, even more so when we get to hear what gamers like these are believing and why they do what they do (Rory discussed why he put particular clubs in his bag for Winged Foot, for example). More of these four-man exhibits would be fantastic for golf and fun for everybody in the house. And hello, if you pay close enough attention, you may even find out something from four of the best minds in the game today.
