Golf’s Top Stars Duel for Charity in TaylorMade Driving Relief

TaylorMade Driving Relief
TaylorMade Driving Relief/Golf Channel

Golf is getting back into the swing with a charity match featuring a few of the world’s best.

Seminole Golf Club in Juno Beach, Fla., hosts TaylorMade Driving Relief, a $3 million, star-studded charity skins match on Sunday to raise money and awareness for the American Nurses Foundation and CDC Foundation.

Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson team up against Oklahoma State University alumni Rickie Fowler and Matthew Wolff. In this format, each player will play his own ball, with each team counting the lower score between the two players on each hole.

NBC, Golf Channel and NBCSN simulcast the event, and it will also be available free on free on Amazon Prime Video

NBC Sports’ Mike Tirico commentates remotely from his home in Michigan, with play-by-play announcer Rich Lerner and analysts Paul Azinger and Gary Koch broadcasting from an off-site production facility. Steve Sands and Jerry Foltz report from Seminole Golf Club.

There will be no spectators on the course, and on-site participants will have rigorous safety precautions.

“We were tested earlier this week and will be again before the competition once we are on-site,” Sands says. “We’ll also be subject to a variety of screenings, questionnaires and temperature checks. We’ll also follow strict social distancing guidelines.”

If this event can be pulled off safely, it could set standards for how the PGA Tour will conduct events when the season resumes in June.

Sands is excited to be a part of one of the first live pro sports events to take place since the COVID-19 pandemic put a hold on most league’s seasons. “Can’t wait to see four of the best players in the world tee it up and compete,” Sands says. “The venue is spectacular. Seminole is one of the most revered golf courses in the world. It should be a special day.”

TaylorMade Driving Relief, Sunday, May 17, 2/1c, NBC, Golf Channel, NBCSN, free on Amazon Prime Video