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'The Match' gave us a once-in-a-lifetime combination of sports greatness

It’s not every day you get two GOATs in the same round of golf.

“The Match: Champions for Charity” featured Tiger Woods and Peyton Manning against Phil Mickelson and Tom Brady.

Outside of Manning, who retired from the NFL five years ago, the other three are still active in their sports and among the most accomplished athletes of all time.

There were a combined eight Super Bowl rings and 20 major championships in Sunday’s foursome. Talk about legendary.

And it’s unlikely we’ll ever see something like this again, given the strange circumstances of nearly every sport being on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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In normal times, Woods and Mickelson would be in the thick of PGA Tour season, Brady would be busy with minicamps with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Manning would probably be shooting another Nationwide commercial.

In reality, we would rather this pandemic never happened in the first place. But the best we can do is appreciate the rare moments of excitement like we saw Sunday.

All told, the event raised more than $20 million for COVID-19 relief.

The team of Woods and Manning eked out a narrow 1-hole victory, but it didn’t really matter.

This was all about the highlight shots, including Brady’s unbelievable hole-out from more than 100 yards away on the seventh.

That impressed the football and golfing world alike.

And the banter was priceless.

Commentator Charles Barkley was teasing Brady about his bad play right before the shot, only for the former Patriots quarterback to respond, “Take a suck of that, Chuck.”

But the trash talk went both ways.

On the third hole, Brady hit an errant drive way right into the trees, and Woods quipped, “That’s in the fairway ... on 7.”

He wasn’t the only one to poke fun at Brady’s early struggles off the tee.

The players’ college teams came into play as well.

Brady said of Tennessee football, Manning’s alma mater, “They haven’t been good since you left.”

Famous athletes across all sports seemed to have something to say, and many donated money to the cause.

The entire sports world appeared captivated by the event, and why wouldn’t they be?

This was a side of these athletes most of us never get to see.

Woods and Brady are notoriously stoic and fierce competitors who don’t show a ton of personality while playing.

In a charity golf event where everyone is mic’d up and no one is taking it too seriously, we got to see the great ones cut loose a little bit.

At the same time, we also got to see some of the greatness.

Brady had his big shot, Mickelson drove the green on a 330-yard par-4, Manning drained a couple big birdie putts and Woods was easily the best player all day. The round naturally came down to Woods’ long putt on the 18th hole.

He had to get it close enough for Manning to tap in for the victory. The ball rolled within a foot of the cup. Game over.

That’s how the great ones do it.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady hits a shot as Tiger Woods looks on during "The Match: Champions For Charity" on Sunday in Hobe Sound, Florida. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images for The Match)
Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady hits a shot as Tiger Woods looks on during "The Match: Champions For Charity" on Sunday in Hobe Sound, Florida. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images for The Match)

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