The eighth edition of Capital One's The Match was announced on Wednesday, May 4. The event will take place on June 29 at Wynn Golf Club Las Vegas.
At this time, there will be no professional golfers in Capital One's charity event. Instead, NFL's Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce will compete against the NBA's Steph Curry and Klay Thompson.
Golf fans were not quite happy with the absence of professional golfers in the seventh edition of Capital One's event.
Here's how fans reacted to this news:
"Would've preferred McIlroy vs Mickelson... Probably in a boxing fight too"
"Feel like maybe there was a different direction they could go with the match… thoughts @PhilMickelson? 🤔"
"This is gonna suck!!"
"The Match has officially run its course. Time to retire this event"
"4 of the most cringe athletes on the planet. Should be awesome"
"They don’t want @PhilMickelson because he’s killing it right now and would embarrass these guys."
"Nobody is watching this nonsense"
"Should be Rahm, Scheffler vs. Koepka, Gooch. Or any kind of LIV vs. PGA matchup."
"Smart. YouTubers more popular than many pro’s. Gonna see a lot more of this with SimLeague24 coming from Tiger. Welcome to post-Tiger era golf. As soon as we stop fighting over LIV/PGATOUR the obvious will be obvious"
"It might be time to pull the plug on The Match."
"Hard to imagine this being even remotely entertaining"
"It’ll be more interesting without the pros"
"It’s been just “a match” for quite some time"
"All the others have been appointment must see tv, this, not really…."
"Travis Kelce? I’ll pass"
"Who would watch that? Not me!"
"should be called, The Hacks"
"No thanks…"
"Not interested in this!"
"Hard pass"
"No pros, no interest"
"Go Warriors"
"This is trash!"
"Not sure this is anything that I would watch. No pro golfers in this."
"Looks like s*** tbh i will not be watching"
What happened in the previous editions of Capital One's The Match?
There have been seven editions of Capital One's The Match, with some of the most prominent sports personalities competing against each other in a golf face-off.
In 2018, the inaugural version of Capital One's charity event was held, which was named The Match: Tiger vs. Phil. The event had a prize fund of $9 million, and the victor would receive the entire sum.
Mickelson triumphed over Tiger Woods after playing 22 holes, including four playoff holes. Turner Sports had initially intended to offer the event on a pay-per-view basis. Nevertheless, due to technical difficulties, they had to broadcast it for free, and Turner issued refunds.
Tiger and Peyton Manning won the second edition, Champions For Charity, in May 2020, beating Mickelson and Tom Brady 1-up. The third edition took place later that year in December with Mickelson and Charles Barkley winning 4&3 over Curry and Manning.
Similar to the preceding year, there were two editions of Capital One's event in 2021. The fourth edition of The Match concluded with Bryson DeChambeau and Aaron Rodgers triumphing over Phil Mickelson and Tom Brady by 3-and-2.
In the fifth edition, Bryson vs. Brooks, Brooks Koepka defeated Bryson DeChambeau 5&3. The sixth edition of the event was held in June last year, and Brady/Aaron Rodgers beat Allen/Mahomes by a score of 1-up.
The most recent iteration of Capital One's philanthropic event was held in December last year when Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth beat the pair of Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy 3-and-2 in a 12-hole format.