Wayne Gretzky overcame Michael Phelps in the finals of TNT Sports’ The Match: Superstars competition on Friday, setting off a clash of the greatest of all time on the golf course.
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Since the start of the series in 2018, The Match has raised over $41 million for charitable causes, and this was its tenth iteration.
Celebrities and former elite athletes competed in this eight-person competition. In the quarterfinals on Thursday, that pitch was cut in half, to four.
Gretzky played Bill Murray in the semifinals, which were broadcast on Friday at the Breakers West Country Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, with Phelps taking against Mark Wahlberg.
Nine holes of match play were used for the competitions.
After nine holes weren’t enough, Phelps defeated Wahlberg in the opening playoff hole in the first match.
Wahlberg led by two after three holes, but Phelps rallied to win the fourth and fifth holes, tying the score with a long putt on the last one.
Wahlberg responded in the eighth after the 23-time Olympic gold medallist swimmer took the lead on the seventh.
In the playoffs, the two played the par-three ninth hole twice because they couldn’t agree on a winner. On his first try to win, Phelps made a birdie.
The battle between Murray and Gretzky was very fascinating. Gretzky took the third and fourth holes, the latter with a long putt, but Murray got up one after the first. The two ultimately went to the eighth all square after Murray made it all square on the sixth.
After that, the Great One grabbed control, winning the eighth hole and making a long birdie putt to win the ninth hole two up.
Murray and Gretzky were being interviewed before a hole in this match when a golf cart driver collided with a nearby fence. Fortunately, nobody was harmed, but the fence did sustain a good ding.
Gretzky woke up two early in the final, while Phelps woke up one early on the fifth. But with two holes left, Gretzky went ahead two after winning the seventh hole. The Great One won because Phelps was unable to find any success on the eighth hole and ultimately gave it up.
