The Match VII: Woods/McIlroy vs. Thomas/Spieth Golf Odds and Prediction
The Match VII will be a prime-time event played under the lights, teeing off at 6 p.m. ET at Florida’s Pelican Golf Club in Belleair.
Woods and MicIlroy opened as slight -122 favourites to win on the golf odds, while Thomas and Spieth sit as -114 underdogs.
The Match
The Match VII comes during a crossroads in professional golf as the PGA Tour and LIV Golf compete to recruit the best players in the world. Woods and McIlroy have arguably been the most outspoken golfers to support the PGA Tour, while Thomas and Spieth have also refused to jump ship to rival LIV Golf and been vocal in their support of the PGA Tour.
This will be the third time Woods has competed in The Match. The first edition in 2018 pitted Woods against longtime rival Phil Mickelson with a $9 million purse on the line for the winner. Mickelson, who went on to be the first big name to join LIV Golf, won the event after 22 holes, including four playoff holes.
Woods teamed up with two-time Super Bowl champion Peyton Manning for the rematch in 2020, while Mickelson played with seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady in a pro-am four-ball format. Despite a late comeback from Mickelson and Brady, Wood and Manning held on to win by a single hole.
McIlroy, Thomas and Spieth have never competed in The Match, although Thomas was a commentator for Woods/Manning vs. Mickelson/Brady.
The Match VII
As mentioned, the seventh edition of The Match will be limited to 12 holes, including four par-3s (No. 3, 5, 8 and 9). In addition, on the fourth hole players will only be allowed to use one randomly selected club and play the entire hole with the single club.
The event will benefit Hurricane Ian relief efforts. Two of the par-3s carry a $2.5-million hole-in-one bonus, while the other two have a $1 million bonus and $250,000 will be donated no matter what scores happen on those holes.
Woods and McIlroy have 105 PGA Tour victories combined, including 19 majors. Longtime friends Thomas and Spieth have 28 PGA Tour victories and five majors combined.
This will be a return to golf for Woods after his withdrawal from last week’s Hero World Challenge due to plantar fasciitis in his right foot. That late withdrawal has significantly shifted the odds to make this event more of a tossup. It’s worth noting Woods has only competed in three competitive tournaments over the past two years.
McIlroy is the No. 1 ranked golfer in the world and he is playing some of the best golf of his career. He has top-five finishes in each of his last six starts and 11 of his last 16. This will be the first time he has ever been paired with Woods in a competition.
Thomas, ranked eighth in the world, and Spieth, ranked 14th, are fresh off seasons in which they each won PGA Tour titles. They had a perfect 4-0-0 record at this year’s Presidents Cup and are 8-2-0 overall together in international competitions.
The Match VII Prediction
McIlroy is the world No. 1 and Woods will go down as one of the best golfers ever, but we’re going with Thomas and Spieth to win this one. Thomas and Spieth have played more consistently and it’s tough to say what kind of shape Woods’ golf game is in at the moment.