After serving as announcer for the first two iterations of The Match, Charles Barkley is reportedly headed to the links to compete in the third.
According to a report by Sportico on Thursday, the former basketball player will join current NBA star Stephen Curry in replacing Tiger Woods and Tom Brady. Phil Mickelson and former quarterback Peyton Manning will be the other participants. Manning and Woods won “The Match: Champions for Charity” over Brady and Mickelson in May. According to Sportico, this upcoming event will be called “The Match 3: Champions for Change.” The event will take place on Friday, Nov. 27 (the day after Thanksgiving), per the report, though it was not clear which players will be paired together, nor did it state where the match would take place. Turner Sports — organizer and broadcaster of the event — declined to comment.
The Match series is designed to raise money for charity while featuring some of the biggest names in golf (the first event was a head’s up match between Woods and Mickelson) and sports. Champions for Charity raised $20 million for COVID-19 relief drew an average of 5.8 million viewers across four Turner networks, making it the most-watched golf telecast in cable TV history, according to Turner.
As is the case with his work on TNT’s basketball coverage, Barkley became one of the highlights of “The Match: Champions for Charity” with his commentating, at one point getting called out by Brady after the now-Tampa Bay quarterback holed out from the fairway from about 150 yards for a birdie on No. 7.
While Barkley’s golf game is known far more his rough swing and usually ugly results, the same cannot be said for Curry. The scratch golfer regularly competes in charity events and has competed in two events on the Korn Ferry Tour (missing the cut both times). Last September, he hosted the inaugural Stephen Curry Charity Classic in San Francisco. The 32-year-old Curry, a two-time NBA MVP and three-time NBA champion with the Golden State Warriors, played in only five games last season, breaking a bone in his hand in October then returning for one game in March.
–Field Level Media ()