Woods and McIlroy vs. Spieth and Thomas at ‘The Match’ Should Be Legendary for the Trash Talk

In previous versions of “The Match,” we’ve seen plenty of rivalries that include Tiger Woods vs. Phil Mickelson and Brooks Koepka vs. Bryson DeChambeau, but four all-time legendary trash talkers will be converging on Pelican Golf Club in the Tampa, Florida area this Saturday for The Match VII between Woods and Rory McIlroy vs. Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas.

What could fuel the war of words here is the fact that the four are particularly close. And any good trash talker knows that you can give it to your friends a bit harder than most.

The problem for Woods, whose way of breaking down a golfer mentally has been well-documented, is that he will have to keep things relatively clean for the TV presentation, which will feature mic’d-up golf carts.

This week Woods said:

“The chatter is good, but it’s not quite like the chatter we’d normally have amongst ourselves because in today’s day and age there are certain things and certain words you just can’t use. As these guys know, my vocabulary is very limited in that regard. Certain verbs and nouns and adjectives, you just can’t use.”

Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas all too chummy ahead of The Match https://t.co/8bCGs6aWGI

— Golfweek (@golfweek) December 8, 2022

Thomas, who McIlroy said thinks he’s the best trash talker of the four, said he and Spieth will have to choose their barbs wisely.

Thomas said:

“It’s kind of hard to trash talk them.I feel like on the first tee Jordan and I just need to get it out in the open that, OK, you guys have more majors than us, you have more FedEx Cups than us, you both have an airplane and we don’t, let’s just get that out in the open that way we don’t get it used against us in our match.”

There will be plenty of Tiger on TV over the next two weeks. The Match takes place Saturday at 6 p.m. on TNT, and Woods will play the following week with son Charlie at the PNC Championship in the Orlando area.

Cover Image Via CBS Sports