Tom Brady is perhaps the Greatest Of All Time to ever play professional football. With seven Super Bowl wins, Brady has more rings than any player in NFL history.
But he’s also not too shabby at golf.
Brady joined fellow NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers and professional golfers Phil Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau for what was touted as “The Match.” Airing Tuesday night, the two pairs matched up for charity at The Reserve at Moonlight Basin golf course in Big Sky, Montana.
On the third hole, Brady smashed a drive 390 yards, which ended up just a dozen feet from the pin. “My man, what a drive,” Mickelson said to his partner.
This Tom Brady shot 😳
He’s locked in. #CapitalOnesTheMatch pic.twitter.com/oqWlkidfGJ
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) July 6, 2021
Former President Barack Obama, a part-time golfer who made a cameo appearance on the live TNT broadcast, had only one word to say: “Wow.”
Brady’s shot was aided by the altitude: the course is at 7,500 feet above sea level. Rodgers hit one even further than Brady, driving his ball about 450 yards on a 777-yard par 5 that drops in elevation by nearly a football field.
The battle went back and forth. “After an iffy start, Rodgers got hot off the tee to lead he and DeChambeau on a stretch of six birdies over eight holes to take the late lead. A quirky one-club challenge gave Mickelson and Brady a chance to cut into the lead, but a missed putt with a 7-iron by Brady allowed the hole to be halved and momentum to be halted. Rodgers made a birdie putt on the par-3 16th to seal the deal,” GolfWeek reported.
“I thought we played really well today,” Mickelson told reporters after the round. “We made a lot of birdies, shot quite a few under par, but these guys played better.”
Here’s what happened on that 777-yard hole, according to PGATour.com.
A 280-foot drop from the tee made a 500-yard tee shot possible. A white line was painted across the fairway at that point. Mickelson’s tee shot caught the small bunker in the middle of the fairway, while Bryson crushed his tee shot. It hung up in the rough, though, and didn’t roll to the bottom of the hill.
DeChambeau’s ball still traveled 480 yards. Meanwhile, Mickelson had fairway wood for his third shot after Brady had to pitch out of the bunker.
Rodgers piped one from a forward tee, so they used his tee shot, leaving Bryson with just an 8-iron into the hole. He hit it into a bunker but Rodgers blasted out to 12 feet.
Mickelson was left with about a 40-footer for par. He conceded after missing and the match was back to all square.
But later in the match, Brady wasn’t the GOAT in golf. On one drive, he sliced his ball far into the trees. On another, he shanked an iron.
“I’m channeling my inner Charles Barkley,” Brady said, referring to the notoriously golf-channeled NBA superstar, who did commentary for the match.