{"id":817914,"date":"2025-01-07T10:12:49","date_gmt":"2025-01-07T16:12:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/07\/tnt-sports-the-match-superstars-which-celebrity-has-the-edge\/"},"modified":"2025-01-07T10:12:49","modified_gmt":"2025-01-07T16:12:49","slug":"tnt-sports-the-match-superstars-which-celebrity-has-the-edge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/07\/tnt-sports-the-match-superstars-which-celebrity-has-the-edge\/","title":{"rendered":"TNT Sports&#8217; &#8216;The Match&#8217; Superstars: Which Celebrity Has the Edge?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\">\n<div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Michael Phelps at the 2024 WM Phoenix Open\" src=\"https:\/\/media.bleacherreport.com\/image\/upload\/w_40,h_27,c_fill\/v1732038759\/tkvwjuuxrfsyf8yewh39.jpg\" itemprop=\"contentUrl\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><small><span>Michael Phelps at the 2024 WM Phoenix Open<\/span><span itemprop=\"citation\">Christian Petersen\/Getty Images<\/span><\/small><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class>Golf enthusiasts don&#8217;t typically have a lot to track in late November. However, TNT Sports&#8217; <i>The Match: Superstars<\/i> is set to provide fans with an entertaining two-day event on Thursday and Friday. <\/p>\n<p class>While the latest iteration of The Match won&#8217;t be a large-field tournament featuring the world&#8217;s best professional golfers, it will carry substantial stakes. A top prize of $1 million will be awarded to the winner. <\/p>\n<p class>The event will also offer fans some unique insight into the golfing habits of some big-time celebrities\u2014most likely served with a healthy portion of friendly banter and trash talk. <\/p>\n<p class><i>&#8220;TNT Sports will deploy a number of technological innovations throughout the taped production that elevate the fan experience, including the Sports Emmy-nominated Cart Cam, drone cameras, and unprecedented access with participating players interacting with one another and the broadcast team via open mics throughout the course.&#8221;<\/i><\/p>\n<p class>With an eight-player field headlined by stars like actor Bill Murray, NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley and MLB legend Ken Griffey Jr., the two-night event should provide plenty of fun moments. <\/p>\n<p class>Who has the edge heading into this three-round competition? Let&#8217;s take a look. <\/p>\n<p class><u><b>The Match: Superstars<\/b><\/u><\/p>\n<p class><b>Where: <\/b>Breakers West Country Club in West Palm Beach<\/p>\n<p class><b>When:<\/b> November 21 and 22<\/p>\n<p class><b>Time:<\/b> 7:30 p.m. ET on both nights<\/p>\n<p class><b>TV and Live Stream: <\/b>TNT and Max<\/p>\n<p class><b>The Field<\/b><\/p>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li>Charley Barkley<\/li>\n<li>Nate Bargatze<\/li>\n<li>Wayne Gretzky<\/li>\n<li>Ken Griffey Jr.<\/li>\n<li>Blake Griffin<\/li>\n<li>Bill Murray<\/li>\n<li>Michael Phelps<\/li>\n<li>Mark Wahlberg<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p class>The format of <i>The Match: Superstars<\/i> may play a big role in how things unfold. In Thursday&#8217;s round, two matches involving two-player teams will decide who participates in the semifinals. <\/p>\n<p class>Murray and NHL hall of famer Wayne Gretzky will go against Barkley and Griffey in Round 1. Meanwhile, actor Mark Wahlberg and 23-time Olympic medalist Michael Phelps will face six-time NBA All-Star Blake Griffin and comedian Nate Bargatze.<\/p>\n<p class>The format for the twosome round will be scramble. For those unfamiliar, scramble is a format in which each player on a team tees off individually, decides on the best lie for the next shot and then hits from that spot.<\/p>\n<p class>Teammates continue hitting their own shots from a shared position until the ball is holed. This variant allows for some creativity and risk-taking, more so than most formats. If Player A hits a quality lay-up shot, player B can try threading the needle through hazards to try to find the green. Whichever lie is best is the one the team will use. <\/p>\n<p class>As is the case in best-ball formats\u2014which involve wholly individual play with teams taking the lowest score on each hole\u2014scramble can allow a superior golfer to carry his teammate. <\/p>\n<p class>The prediction here is that Phelps will carry Wahlberg against Griffin and Bargatze, competitors who each participated in this year&#8217;s American Century Championship. <\/p>\n<p class>The team of Barkley and Griffey may also be tough to beat. Barkley has competed in The Match before\u2014winning The Match III alongside Phil Mickelson\u2014while Griffey has earned a bit of a reputation as a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.golfdigest.com\/story\/ken-griffey-jr-golf\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">power hitter.<\/a> <\/p>\n<p class>Between Barkley&#8217;s experience and Griffey&#8217;s smooth swing, Murray and Gretzky will face a difficult challenge. <\/p>\n<div>\n<blockquote data-lang=\"en\"><p>Korn Ferry Tour <span>@KornFerryTour<\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Ken Griffey Jr.&#8217;s golf swing is as smooth as his baseball swing \u26be\ufe0f\u26f3\ufe0f<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BMWCharityProAm?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@BMWCharityProAm<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/EWkcxdZVnF\">pic.twitter.com\/EWkcxdZVnF<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/KornFerryTour\/status\/1667317061373009920\"><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<p class>Thursday&#8217;s winning teams will be split for Friday&#8217;s semifinal and final rounds of individual match play. <\/p>\n<p class>Barkley&#8217;s experience in The Match\u2014both as a competitor and a member of the commentary team\u2014should give him an edge on Friday. However, the biggest edge probably goes to Phelps. <\/p>\n<p class>The decorated Olympic legend is an incredible athlete who has also dedicated himself to golf recently. As he explained earlier this year, the 39-year-old is driven to become a scratch golfer. <\/p>\n<p class>&#8220;I know that to get to a scratch golfer, that&#8217;s going to take time. It&#8217;s going to take practice,&#8221; Phelps said in January,<br \/>\nper <a href=\"https:\/\/golf.com\/news\/michael-phelps-olympian-golf-obsessed-interview\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Josh Berhow<\/a> of Golf.com. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s going to take a lot of energy. And that&#8217;s something that I&#8217;m excited to do, because that&#8217;s what I did in order to accomplish the goals that I did in the sport of swimming.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class>When a world-class athlete combines their talents with the dedication of an Olympic champion, success is almost sure to follow. Expect Phelps to shine throughout the two-day event while reminding the world just what kind of competitor he is. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> Kristopher Knox <br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/bleacherreport.com\/articles\/10144005-tnt-sports-the-match-superstars-which-celebrity-has-the-edge\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Michael Phelps at the 2024 WM Phoenix Open Christian Petersen\/Getty Images Golf enthusiasts don&#8217;t typically have a lot to track in late November. However, TNT Sports&#8217; The Match: Superstars is set to provide fans with an entertaining two-day event on Thursday and Friday. While the latest iteration of The Match won&#8217;t be a large-field tournament<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":817915,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1785,192],"tags":[11639,6810],"class_list":["post-817914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-match","category-sports","tag-match","tag-sports"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=817914"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817914\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/817915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=817914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=817914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=817914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}