The best moments from a big win by Tom Brady/Aaron Rodgers over Patrick Mahomes/Josh Allen in The Match

Golf Tips
10:42 PM ET

In another edition of The Match, football fans merged with golf fans on Wednesday in Las Vegas to see NFL quarterbacks Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers put aside their personal competition with each other to team up against Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen.

Brady and Rodgers won the 12-hole exhibition on the final putt of the final hole to put Mahomes and Allen away. The elder quarterbacks started out hot, winning the first two holes, only to give the lead away and come back from one down to win the event.

It went back and forth, just like the trash talking that came from everyone on the broadcast, including Charles Barkley, who was commentating during the round.

Here are some of the bigger takeaways from The Match and some moments that stood out:

Shaq not even there to defend himself

Charles Barkley has been one of the stars of The Match, saying pretty much whatever he wants, whenever he wants. He has taken shots at all of the quarterbacks, and at J.J. Watt. He criticized Trevor Immelman when Immelman said the ball travels 7 % farther in Las Vegas.

Barkley said Immelman made the number up and was lying to them.

As the players were making their way to the eighth green, the officials measured Mahomes’ tee shot at the par 3 to 7 feet, 6 inches. Ernie Johnson said he hit it about a Shaquille O’Neal-size length from the pin. Barkley took the opportunity to make fun of his NBA broadcast partner and said he was happy O’Neal wasn’t there.

“That’s the one good thing about doing golf, man, I don’t have to be around that idiot,” Barkley said. “It’s more beautiful when Shaq’s not here. My life is way better when he’s not around.”

The fans are on high alert

Because there are no professionals playing in The Match, the actual golf has declined severely — with several shots sprayed off to the left and right. The quarterbacks are taking live lessons from former Masters winner Trevor Immelman, who is an analyst on the broadcast, to help fix their swings as they’re playing.

That includes Brady, who was pulling his tee shots to the left. Immelman told him to swing more out to the right, which then resulted in Brady pushing a shot far to the right.

Brady doesn’t often make mistakes on the football field, so it was a rare instance where people could relate to what was happening to Brady on the course.

Unfortunately, those shots from the quarterbacks were traveling into the crowd of spectators. PGA Tour pro Smylie Kaufman was watching and noted the number of times the fans have had to duck.

Brady went there with Allen

The match got tight after Mahomes won the third hole with a birdie to bring Rodgers and Brady back to 1 up. Also, the trash talk started to get more personal.

Brady hit his tee shot a little short on the par-3 fourth hole and said it was a little chunky as he picked up his tee. He then took a shot at Allen by saying that’s what he calls “a little Josh Allen, a little chunky.”

Allen laughed, but it was the first real jab that seemed like more than friendly banter.

Mahomes struggles early, grabs a beer

Mahomes and Allen were 2 down in the match after two holes, with Rodgers winning the first with a birdie and Brady missing an eagle putt and getting a gimme birdie to win the second.

Mahomes said he was going to wait until the fourth hole to crack open a beer, but getting down early caused him to reach for some “swing juice.” Never missing an opportunity for a sponsor shoutout, he called out Coors Light and showed off the silver bullet aluminum bottle as he took a sip.

J.J. Watt, who is a commentator on the broadcast, asked Mahomes how many he’d need to get his confidence up. Mahomes was quick to say he can’t drink too many or it will have the opposite effect.

Josh Allen trolls Brady

Tom Brady has jokingly asked Twitter to remove his shirtless picture from the scouting combine prior to the 2000 NFL draf. Allen decided to troll Brady with the picture by handing him a golf ball with the picture printed on the side of the ball. Allen said he’s going to use the ball in the match.

Brady then responded on the first hole by showing his ball which had a picture of the Lombardi trophy on it. Brady has won seven Super Bowls, so he showed the picture and asked Allen if he has ever seen one before.

Charles Barkley gets in on the action

Before the round, TV reporter Amanda Renner asked Aaron Rodgers what the wager would have to be to let Charles Barkley cut off Rodgers’ man bun. Rodgers asked if Barkley will give him some money after the round and grow his hair out if they win instead.

“You know I don’t like man buns, but you wear it well,” Barkley said. “I have to give you credit. In fairness, it’s only because you’re a great quarterback. If you were just like a plumber or something, it wouldn’t work. You are Aaron Rodgers, so you can get away with stuff.”

Rodgers said if Barkley beats him in a round at Tahoe on the 18th green, Rodgers will let him chop off his man bun. If Rodgers wins, Barkley will donate $25,000 to Rodgers’ favorite charity.

The trash talk started early

In a media availability, Rodgers explained that he and Brady came into the NFL when trash talk was actual trash talk. That now, football players are friendly and the trash talk has gone downhill.

“When we started [in the NFL], definitely when [Brady] started and when I started playing, there was actual, real trash talk,” Rodgers said. “Like, guys trash-talked each other and there was a lot of good s— talk, and we knew who they were around the league. And now, it’s more buddy-buddy, you know, social media following each other, memes, this emoji s—, and it’s not the same. So, when you talk about Kermit the Frog [referring to Mahomes, per memes] and Josh [Allen] trying to s—-talk me and Tom, a couple old-school, grizzled vets … c’mon.”

If the early evidence is a sign of how this match will go, it looks like we’ll be in for a treat.

Brady started the chirping early on social media when he posted an edited picture, which was originally a shirtless Brady watching his son hit a golf ball. The edited version had Allen’s head on Brady’s son’s head.

Allen and Mahomes dug in on Brady and his joke-writing ability, saying he has a team of writers that takes care of his script for him. Allen said once Brady gets off script, he won’t be able to come back and hang with the younger guys throughout the entire event.

Mahomes played off of that joke on social media, retweeting an ad from Brady, saying he needs to talk to the writers of the joke.

Brooks Koepka even got in on the fun, taking a shot at Bryson DeChambeau, because why not? Koepka and DeChambeau have had their own feud, which played out in what was supposed to be a 12-hole exhibition of their own, going one-on-one against each other.

Koepka ended up beating DeChambeau in nine holes, so he tweeted good luck to everyone in this match, while also reminding anyone who forgot he needed only nine to beat his nemesis.

Brady is 0-2 in the event, so if the trash talk persists from his team, he will need to hope the play backs it up and gets him in the win column against the younger quarterbacks. Allen reminded Brady in the media availability that Father Time is undefeated.

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