The Match golf series enters its seventh iteration, and for the first time in its history, it will feature four professional golfers. Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy will team up to face Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth in The Match 2022 on Saturday. Play will tee off at 6 p.m. ET from Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Fla., making The Match 7 the first of its kind to take place in primetime. Playing under the lights is certainly not new for Woods, who was the feature attraction in the Monday Night Golf series that ran from 1999-2005.
This Saturday's event will be best ball format over 12 holes, with proceeds to benefit Hurricane Ian relief efforts. Caesars Sportsbook has the Thomas/Spieth duo as -130 favorites (risk $130 to win $100) in the latest Match VII odds. The Woods/McIlroy pairing is the +110 underdog. Before locking in any Match 7 bets, be sure to see Match VII picks and predictions from SportsLine's proven golf expert, Mike McClure.
McClure, a DFS professional, knows golf inside and out. His proprietary model has been red-hot since the PGA Tour resumed in June of 2020. In fact, it's up over $9,500 on its best bets since the restart, nailing tournament after tournament.
McClure's model included Justin Thomas in its best bets to win the 2022 PGA Championship. That bet hit at +1600, and for the entire tournament, McClure's best bets returned almost $800. At the 2022 Masters, McClure's model was all over Scottie Scheffler's first career major championship victory heading into the weekend.
In addition, McClure was all over Brooks Koepka defeating Bryson DeChambeau as a +110 underdog in The Match V. This same model has also nailed a whopping eight majors entering this event. Anyone who has followed it has seen massive returns.
Now, with The Match 7 set to tee off on Saturday evening, McClure has scoured the golf odds and locked in his top pick. Head to SportsLine now to see McClure's best bet for The Match VII.
Why Tiger Woods/Rory McIlroy can win The Match 7
Woods has experience participating in this event, as he teamed up with Peyton Manning to defeat Phil Mickelson and Tom Brady in 2020. He is also one of the best golfers of all time, and McIlroy's long drives should put him in a position to utilize his short game. McIlroy has the top spot in the World Golf Ranking and has placed at least fourth in six straight tournaments that he has participated in.
He has also played recently, finishing fourth in the DP World Tour Championship on Nov. 20, while Thomas and Spieth have not played competitively since Oct. 23. This is only a 12-hole exhibition match, so health should not be a major factor for Woods. His experience combined with McIlroy's superior ability gives that duo an edge over Thomas and Spieth on Saturday. See which side to back at SportsLine.
Why Jordan Spieth/Justin Thomas can win The Match 7
One only has to look at the current world rankings to see why Spieth and Thomas are the favorites. Both are ranked in the top 15, and while McIlroy is the No. 1 player in the world, Woods isn't in the same stratosphere as the other three competitors. The 15-time major winner is No. 1,280 in the world thanks to just a handful of competitive rounds from him since his Feb. 2021 car crash. It's been nearly three calendar years since Woods finished in the top 10 of any tournament.
Both Spieth and Thomas competed at last week's Hero World Challenge, in which Woods (foot) was forced to withdraw beforehand. As for McIlroy, he hasn't played any tournament in seven weeks and could be a bit rusty compared to his opponents.
With this event being best ball format, that means that each player will play their own ball and then the team will record the lower score of the two. Given Woods' inactivity and recent results, that could put lots of pressure on McIlroy to, in essence, carry the team. On the other hand, Spieth and Thomas can equally carry the load as two of the best three golfers in the event reside on that team. See which side to back at SportsLine.
How to make The Match 2022 picks
McClure has scoured The Match VII odds board and found a critical x-factor that has him jumping all over one side. You can only get his top pick for The Match VII right here.
So who wins The Match VII? Visit SportsLine now to see who you can bank on to win The Match 7, and see where the betting value lies, all from the expert that's nailed eight golf majors, and find out.