MIAMI – Rory McIlroy called it a “fun” night as he won a closest-to-the-pin tiebreaker to earn US$1.6 million (S$2.2 million) at the end of The Match 9 in West Palm Beach, Florida on Feb 26.

The ninth edition of the exhibition golf series brought the Northern Irishman, Max Homa and LPGA stars Lexi Thompson and Rose Zhang together for a 12-hole skins match under the lights at The Park golf course.

“I just think (I will remember) how much fun it was, being out here with Max and Rose and Lexi and playing at such a great facility,” McIlroy said. “All these people out here, the atmosphere, it was a really cool night.”

After the four-time Major champion won three skins for a combined US$800,000 for charity, no player emerged to win any of the final four holes.

At the par-five 12th hole, McIlroy announced that an unidentified friend of his was donating US$500,000 to bring the total remaining stakes to US$1.6 million. After he missed an eagle putt and was given the birdie, Homa drained a longer birdie putt to match him.

So the four players returned to the fairway from approximately 100 yards out for a tiebreaker. McIlroy went first and stuck his wedge shot to 4 feet, 2½ inches, and none of his counterparts came close to beating him.

The only other player to win a skin was Thompson at the second hole, when she sank a lengthy eagle putt to net US$200,000.

It was just McIlroy’s second time participating in The Match series and his first win. He and Tiger Woods lost to Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas in The Match 7.

This was the first edition to feature female competitors. Zhang, still just 20 and a student at Stanford, burst onto the national scene last June when she won her LPGA debut at the Mizuho Americas Open.

“Just from being in this kind of environment, it’s kind of my first time and definitely outside of my comfort zone,” she said. “It just makes me so excited to see what’s to come.”

In other golf news, three-time PGA Tour winner Anthony Kim will make his first professional golf appearance since 2012 at this weekend’s LIV Golf event in Jeddah, the Saudi-backed circuit announced on Feb 26.

Kim suffered a series of injuries and has not played a tour event since undergoing surgery on his left Achilles tendon, but has been working for months on a return to competition. REUTERS, AFP