Charles Barkley Shows Off New, Better Swing in The Match

The biggest surprise of The Match came early on when Charles Barkley showed off his new swing. From there, Sir Charles continued to surprise.

Golf fans around the world tuned in to The Match: Champions for Change on Friday, mainly to see one thing and to answer one question. Just how bad would Charles Barkley play?

It’s kind of like a train wreck or a car crash. It’s human nature to stop and stare when something bad happens. And Barkley’s golf swing, as we have all seen is bad. Very bad.

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But it turns out the Sir Charles had a surprise for the golf world in Friday’s event, where he teamed with Phil Mickelson to take on Steph Curry and Peyton Manning. To the surprise of nearly everyone, it was apparent that Charles had been working on his golf game.

That hideous hitch, stop and follow through was gone. It was replaced with a swing that no one will mistake for Ben Hogan, but one that was far, far better than its predecessor.

Barkley proved that he can now do two things. One, he can advance the ball a respectable distance on nearly any shot. And two, and most importantly, he can keep the ball in play.

With Barkley able to do those two things, the options for his team really opened up. As long as Barkley’s tee shot was not absolutely terrible, it allowed Mickelson to play the second shot for the duo in the alternate shot format. And that simple fact proved to be a huge factor in the match.

After losing the first hole to the Curry/Manning pairing, Sir Charles and Phil the Thrill rallied to win the next four holes to quickly go 3-up on the day. The teams would halve the sixth hole.

Mickelson and Barkley would win the seventh hole to take a commanding 4-up lead. At that point, Barkley looked into the television camera and told them to get some of the old Law & Order reruns ready to go, as he smelled blood in the water.

Curry and Manning would with the eighth hole to cut the deficit to 3-up, which is where it stood as the foursome made the turn.

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They would go 4-up with a win on 10 before slipping back to 3-up after losing the 11th. But Barkley and Mickelson won the 12th to go 4-up with six holes to play.

Barkley and Mickelson would close out the match on the 15th hole, winning 4 and 3. While that result was surprising, the biggest shocker of the day was the new swing that Barkley showed off, one that helped his team emerge victorious.

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