TaylorMade Driving Relief preview: What you need to know about charity skins game

TaylorMade Driving Relief supported by UnitedHealth Group is a $3-million charity match that will raise money for COVID-19 relief. Here's everything you need to know about the skins game.

How to watch

USA

Canada

Players

Rory McIlroy

Age: 31
World rank: No. 1
PGA Tour wins: 18
Career earnings: $52.3 million

Dustin Johnson

Age: 35
World rank: No. 5
PGA Tour wins: 20
Career earnings: $62.3 million

Rickie Fowler

Age: 31
World rank: No. 27
PGA Tour wins: 5
Career earnings: $38.6 million

Matthew Wolff

Age: 21
World rank: No. 110
PGA Tour wins: 1
Career earnings: $1.95 million

Format

McIlroy and Johnson will team up to take on Fowler and Wolff in a skins game competition using the best-ball format. Each golfer will play their own ball, and the team's lowest score will determine which pair wins the sum of money available on the hole, also known as a skin. For example, if McIlroy makes a three and the others make a four, the McIlroy-Johnson team wins the skin.

Here is the money available per hole:

Nos. 1-6: $50,000 each
Nos. 7-16: $100,000 each
No. 17: $200,000
No. 18: $500,000

If the two teams tie on a hole, the skin will carry over to the next and add to the sum available on the following hole. This continues until a team claims the available skin.

For example, if the teams tie the first three holes, the fourth would be worth $200,000. If a team then wins No. 4, the total would reset so that No. 5 is worth $50,000.

If the skin on the 18th hole is tied, the teams will return to the 17th hole for a tiebreaker using either a shortened par-3 challenge or a closest-to-the-pin competition, depending on how much time remains in the broadcast window.

Each team will begin with $500,000 and all money earned will be donated to a charity of each player's choice. The team with the most money at the end of the round is considered the winners.

There will be longest-drive competitions on Nos. 2 and 14 worth $100,000 and $150,000, respectively. Players will also earn an extra $25,000 for every birdie, $50,000 for an eagle, or $150,000 for a hole-in-one or albatross.

The course

Seminole Golf Club, Juno Beach, Florida

Seminole Golf Club is one of the premier venues in the United States but is rarely given the opportunity to display its greatness. The charity skins game will be Seminole's first-ever broadcast event.

Legendary architect Donald Ross, who built hundreds of courses, including the famous Pinehurst No. 2, designed the masterpiece in 1929 on Florida's east coast. Many consider it his best work, including McIlroy, whose father is a member at Seminole.

"Seminole is going to be a treat for everyone to see on TV," McIlroy said, according to PGA Tour.com's Ben Everill. "I think it's Donald Ross' greatest course he ever designed. ... It has some of the best green complexes in the world in terms of the thought that needs to go into playing your second shots and then just how thoughtful you need to be on the greens and around the greens."

The late Ben Hogan once said, "Seminole is the only course I could be perfectly happy playing every single day. If you can play well at Seminole, you can play well anywhere."

The exclusive club famously hosts an annual Seminole Pro-Member tournament that all the charity match participants played in 2020. Both McIlroy and Fowler, along with their amateur partners, have won in the past.

The golf played on May 17 will be the center of attention, but Seminole could very well steal the show for avid golf fans.

Social-distancing rules

The charity match will not only mark golf's return to television, but it will also provide a glimpse into what the sport will look like with new social-distancing guidelines when the PGA Tour resumes June 11.

All four participants already underwent a COVID-19 test ahead of the match, and everyone on-site will receive a thermal screening and questionnaire, according to Golf Channel's Will Gray. The PGA Tour plans to implement a similar - but much more substantial - approach upon its restart.

The players at Seminole will not have caddies. Each will be forced to carry their own bags or use a pushcart. Don't expect to see them lugging around their standard tour bags Sunday, though.

There will be no rakes in bunkers, either. It remains unknown if players will use modified cups (putting a pool noodle or PVC pipe in the hole to eliminate the ball falling into the bottom of the cup) or not. The PGA Tour is seeking an exemption to a current rule that states cups must be modified at courses in Palm Beach County, Florida, where the event is being held, Gray adds.

Betting corner

McIlroy and Johnson are heavily favored to earn the most money in the 18-hole match. The duo is priced at -200 (risk $200 to win $100) in the betting market. Fowler and Wolff are +175 (risk $100 to win $175).

Some prop bets available for the match include:

Player to claim the most skins
1. McIlroy: +160
2. Johnson: +300
3. Fowler: +400
4. Wolff: +500

Player to hit the longest drive
1. McIlroy: +180
2. Wolff: +200
3. Johnson: +300
4. Fowler: +1700

First player to hit a ball in the water
1. Fowler: +233
2. Johnson: +300
3. Wolff: +300
4. McIlroy: +400

Both Fowler and Wolff to wear orange shirts or hats as a nod to Oklahoma State
+300

Charities

The team of McIlroy and Johnson will be playing for the American Nurses Foundation. Fowler and Wolff will donate earnings to the CDC Foundation.

Farmers Insurance donated $1 million for a birdies-and-eagle pool to benefit Off Their Plate, a fundraising initiative that helps health-care workers and restaurant shift employees impacted by the pandemic.

The PGA Tour will raise additional funds by accepting online donations from fans through a GoFundMe page. More details can be found here, including an alternative charity for Canadian fans to support.