Capital One’s The Match: How good are Tom Brady and Peyton Manning at golf?

Are Tom Brady and Peyton Manning good at golf? We’ll find out soon.

After golf made its return one week ago, Capital One’s The Match: Champions for Charity will be the main event. Tiger Woods and Peyton Manning will team up for a golf match against Phil Mickelson and Tom Brady. This cross-sport match should be a can’t-miss event on Sunday, May 24 from Medalist Golf Club.

When it comes to the merits of the four athletes that will be competing in The Match, they are all titans in their own field. Woods and Mickelson are two of the greatest golfers in the history of the game while Brady and Manning are two of the best NFL quarterbacks to ever play. But when it comes to the two quarterbacks, what about their golf games?

Since golf is the name of the game at Capital One’s The Match, how well Tom Brady and Peyton Manning play football is irrelevant. We need to know how much they will help their playing partners, Mickelson and Woods, respectively.

As two exceedingly wealthy athletes, it’s no surprise that Brady and Manning aren’t going to be out there hacking mile-deep divots on Sunday. These are two experienced golfers as Peyton Manning has a handicap of 6.4 at his home course in Tennessee while Tom Brady has an 8.1 handicap at his home course, per Golf Digest.

With sports, though, some context is always necessary. First, let’s just take a look at some highlights from both quarterbacks when they’ve been out on the links:

What we see there is that Brady is clearly longer off the tee than Manning, which makes sense given the neck surgeries the former Colt and Bronco has undergone. However, Manning might have a little more touch otherwise. Beyond that, it’s even more clear that neither player is a slouch.

Back to the context, though. Per Golf Digest, Manning is likely in better form in terms of time spent on the course recently. While he’s been retired, he’s posted 20 scores in the past year and has been quite consistent with his scoring. Brady, on the other hand, has to go back to 2014 for his last 20 posted scores. And he’s been a bit rusty when on the course recently. So maybe that means advantage Manning in The Match?

In any case, don’t expect Manning and Brady to be rivaling Woods and Mickelson on Sunday at Medalist. Having said that, they are clearly more than skilled enough at the game to hold their own and add to the entertainment of what should be a fun golf match to continue welcoming back the sport.