Rory McIlroy during The Match IX on Feb. 26, 2024. | Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images
McIlroy’s competitive gene would not allow him to concede a putt to his fellow PGA Tour member, with a surprising outcome.
Rory McIlroy and Max Homa have their competitive juices raging at Capital One’s The Match on TNT.
They are playing alongside Lexi Thompson and Rose Zhang, as the LPGA stars joined the fray for the first time.
Despite playing in a charity event, McIlroy has made Homa putt out on each putt, including those from inside four feet.
The move paid off for McIlroy on the par-3 8th hole, where the Northern Irishman made par and Homa three-putted from roughly 15 feet.
That included a miss from about 3-feet, as Homa lipped out for par.
As a result, McIlroy won the $300,000 skin and took a commanding $600,000 lead through eight holes in the 12-hole match.
“I kind of feel bad,” McIlroy said about making Homa putt out his short par putt.
“But [at the same time], I kind of don’t.”
Only Thompson had won another skin by that juncture, as her fantastic eagle on the par-4 2nd hole won her $200,000.
Homa and Zhang meanwhile, had yet to win a skin by the 8th hole, which made Homa’s miss that more deflating.
Of course, McIlroy making Homa putt out stems from the competitive nature of the Ryder Cup, which is all predicated on match play.
In both match play and skins matches, the player who gets the ball in the hole first typically wins or, at the very least, halves the hole.
You rarely lose the hole if your ball ends up in the hole before your opponent.
McIlroy employed this mentality emphatically at the ninth iteration of The Match, and it has undoubtedly paid dividends.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.
