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The Match 9: Preview & Odds

Lexi Thompson hits from the first fairway at the Grant Thornton Invitational at Tiburon Golf Club in Naples on Friday, Dec. 8, 2023.
Credit: Amanda Inscore/The News-Press / USA TODAY NETWORK

The ninth addition of The Match skins game will take place at The Park in West Palm Beach, Fla., beginning at 6:30 p.m. ET on Monday.

The event features LPGA stars Lexi Thompson and Rose Zhang along with men’s heavyweights Rory McIlroy and Max Homa in a 12-hole skins match. Each hole is worth a specific amount of money for charity.

Thompson and Zhang are the first women to play in the made-for-television event. Homa will also be making his first appearance in The Match, while McIlroy teamed with Tiger Woods in a 3 and 2 loss to Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth in December 2022.

McIlroy is favored to do better the second time around. He is the +170 favorite at BetMGM and the +200 favorite at DraftKings, where the Northern Irishman leads the quartet with 62 percent of the bets and 54 percent of the money backing him to win.

Homa has been the more popular choice at BetMGM, drawing 55 percent of the total bets at +250, while McIlroy does lead with 73 percent of the money wagered.

Thompson and Zhang are both +350 at BetMGM, where Zhang has been supported by 18 percent of the bets and 14 percent of the money. Thompson had yet to draw any wagers at the book as of Monday morning.

At DraftKings, Zhang had been backed by 15 percent of the money at +300, while Thompson was fourth with 4 percent at +330.

The PGA Tour and LPGA Tour players will hit from the same tee boxes on the four par-3 holes. The men and women will use different tee boxes for the remaining holes.

The golfer who raises the most money at the conclusion of the event will be declared the winner.

Zhang, 20, won her LPGA debut at the Mizuho Americas Cup, just two weeks after capturing consecutive individual NCAA titles at Stanford, becoming the first woman to accomplish that feat.

Thompson, 29, is an 11-time LPGA Tour winner — including a win at the 2014 Chevron Championship. She also became the seventh woman to compete on the PGA Tour when she narrowly missed the cut at the Shriner’s Children’s Open in October.

McIlroy, 34, is a four-time major champion (2012 and 2014 PGA Championship, 2011 U.S. Open, 2014 Open Championship).

Homa, 33, is a six-time PGA Tour winner and a member of the 2023 U.S. Ryder Cup team.

The event will be live on TNT, truTV and HLN, and will be streamed live on Max.

–Field Level Media

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