TaylorMade's Driving Relief Event Raises Millions for COVID-19 Relief

In a battle between the present and future of the PGA, there was millions of dollars raised for COVID-19 relief with a great day of golf.

© Adam Hagy-USA TODAY Sports

It was an exciting day for the sports world, as well as Oklahoma State fans, as we saw one of the first live sporting events in the past few months with the TaylorMade Driving Relief charity golf event at the Seminole Golf Club in Juno Beach, Fl on Sunday.

Headlining the event were two former Oklahoma State greats, Rickie Fowler and Matthew Wolff, who were playing for the CDC Foundation, who took on the No. 1 overall golfer in the world, Rory McIlroy, and former No. 1 golfer in the world, Dustin Johnson, who were playing for the American Nurses Foundation.

In order to play, social distancing guidelines were in place, as well as each golfer had to carry their own bag and they weren’t allowed to use a cart to get around the course.

There was a lot of money put up by several big-name sponsors such as UnitedHealth Group, TaylorMade and Farmers Insurance, with several thousands of dollars up for grabs for birdies, eagles and hole-in-ones. And as the day went on, the amount of money for each one of those shots went up as well with every penny earned on the day going to COVID-19 relief.

Even Wolff, who was wearing highly talked about tie dyed Nike golf shoes, was raising money as he'll be auctioning off said shoes on social media.

It was an event where it didn’t matter who won or lost, because there was millions of dollars on the line for COVID-19 relief and every dollar went to the cause. By the end of the day, an impressive $5,503,959 was donated throughout the three businesses above, as well as viewer donation.

The breakdown looks like this:

• $3 million from the skins match

• $1 million from the birdie/eagle bonus pool

• $450,000 from the long drive bonus

• $1,053,959 from viewer donations

“It’s just fun being out here,” said Rickie Fowler. “Being able to play golf, play with some of our close friends for a really goof cause, or multiple causes, but all kind of central around COVID relief. It’s all a bonus being able to play golf. Good heated battle; we had some fun. Unfortunately, I saved my worst shot for the last [hole], but I felt like we both played just fine today and enjoyed the competition, but we’re out here because something a lot bigger than golf.”

While it didn’t matter who won or loss from a points or personal monetary standpoint, there’s no doubt that was some pride on the line for these four golfers.

Shot by shot update on our live thread of the event

To start, each team tied the first two holes of the day, both worth a combined $150,000 and three skins. However, the second hole was one of two longest drive challenges which saw the youngest golfer, Matthew Wolff, bringing in $100,000 with a drive of 356 yards.

Wolff would also go on to win the other longest drive, the 14th hole, with a drive of 368 yards, good for an additional $350,000.

The third hole, Johnson and McIlroy would bag three skins and $175,000.

Hole No. 4, Fowler and Wolff bagged their first skin of the day, including the first of several birdies for Fowler.

Fast forward to the ninth hole, Johnson and McIlroy held a 5-4 skins lead, but Fowler and Wolff were gaining quickly, plus the Cowboy duo held a $100,000 lead.

That’s when Rickie turned up the pressure.

He would finish with an event high six birdies and was the main reason the Cowboy duo entered the 18th hole with a 7-5 skins lead, as well as a monetary lead of $1,150,000 to $750,000.

Wolff landed in the bunker on his 18 tee shot, and put it on the left edge of the green on his second. On the birdie attempt, Wolff put it within just a few inches. While it didn’t go in, it was easily one of Wolff’s best putts of the day.

For what would’ve been the highlight of his day, Dustin Johnson put the ball less than 15 feet of the hole on his second shot on 18. To win hole and the six skins and $1.1 million, and what would’ve been McIlroy and Johnson’s first skin win since the sixth hole, Johnson left his putt just a few inches to the right of the hole for par.

While the hole was tied at par, there still remained the 19th hole, which was a closet-to-the-pin challenge.

“Rise to the occasion, show me something.” Fowler told Wolff as Wolff teed up his shot from 120 yards out. Of the first three shots, Wolff rose to the occasion and put his ball closest to the pin as Fowler and Johnson couldn’t seem to get close. Up comes to the No. 1 golfer in the world and the most clutch shot of the day as McIlroy got it done to win their first skins hole since the sixth hole with six skins and $1.1 million.

The real winners of the day was obviously the CDC Foundation, the American Nurses Foundation and the people that will benefit from the COVID-19 relief funds.

While everyone can’t wait for life to get back to normal, it’s events like this one, events that will and have already raised millions of dollars for relief that will help us get back to normal much quicker.