Rory McIlroy and Max Homa are competitive on Capital One’s The Match on TNT.
They are playing alongside Lexi Thompson and Rose Chan as the LPGA stars enter the fray for the first time.
Despite playing in a charity event, McIlroy made every putt home, including one from within 4 feet.
The move paid off for McIlroy on the par-3 eighth hole, as the Northern Irishman achieved a par and a home. Three putt from about 15 feet.
That included a miss from about 3 feet, allowing Homa to make par.
As a result, McIlroy won the $300,000 skin and took a commanding lead of $600,000 through eight holes of the 12-hole match.
“I feel kind of bad,” McIlroy said of missing Homa’s short par putt.
“but [at the same time]I just don’t.
Thompson was the only one to win another skin up to this point. her wonderful eagle She won $200,000 on the par-4 second hole.
Homa and Chan, on the other hand, had yet to gain skin by the eighth hole, making Homa’s mistake even more depressing.
Of course, the reason why McIlroy missed Homa’s putt was due to the competitive nature of the Ryder Cup, which is based on match play.
In both match play and skins matches, the first player to put the ball in the hole usually wins, or at least halves the hole.
Even if your ball ends up in the hole before your opponent, you almost never lose the hole.
McIlroy emphasized this mentality at The Match 9, and it definitely paid off.
Jack Mirko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through.Be sure to check it out @_PlayingThrough Cover more golf. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko In the same way.
