Icons Series Golf: Ben Roethlisberger, Michael Phelps Day 2 Schedule and Picks

2022 is shaping up to be an intriguing year for golf fans. The PGA continues to unfold as normal, but we've been treated to several new events already this year, including the latest edition of Capital One's The Match and LIV Golf. This weekend also marks the inaugural event of Icons Series Golf, which is heading into Day 2.

As its name might indicate, this Icons Series event features several celebrity athletes, including former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, former Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps, English footballer Harry Kane and former tennis star Ash Barty.

The debut event is a two-team—United States and International—competition. From the Icons Series official website:

"The Icons Series is a truly unique sporting event, bringing together the world’s biggest sporting icons to compete in a series of competitive team matchplay format events."

The United States team is captained by pro golfer Fred Couples, while the international team is captained by tour pro Ernie Els. While the event focuses primarily on group and singles match play, individual "player accolades" will be given for factors like greens in regulation, driving length and driving accuracy.

With both team and individual leaderboards, the event is designed to keep players competing from start to finish. The event opened on Thursday at Liberty National Golf Course in New York and will wrap on Friday, July 1.

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Icons Series Golf, Day 2 Schedule

Session 4: 4 x Fourballs - 7:30 a.m. ET start

Session 5: 5 x Greensomes - 11:04 a.m. ET start

Session 6: 12 x Singles - 2:15 p.m. ET start

*Streaming Coverage on Peacock from 2-6:30 p.m. ET

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Rosters

United States

Captain: Fred Couples (golf)

Reggie Bush (football)

Brice Butler (football)

Marshall Faulk (football)

Robbie Gould (football)

Michael Phelps (swimming)

Ben Roethlisberger (football)

J.R. Smith (basketball)

John Smoltz (baseball)

Michael Strahan (football)

Golden Tate (football)

Michael Vick (football)

Andrew Whitworth (football)

International

Captain: Ernie Els (golf)

Canelo Alvarez (boxing)

Ash Barty (tennis)

AB de Villiers (cricket)

George Gregan (rugby)

Gavin Hastings (rugby)

Harry Kane (soccer)

Brian Lara (cricket)

James Milner (soccer)

Ricky Ponting (cricket)

Ivan Rodriguez (baseball)

Yuvraj Singh (cricket)

Alan Smith (soccer)

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Day 2 Preview

The first day of competition ended with four-ball play, a team format similar to what is used for a portion of the Ryder Cup.

The United States team won handily in Session 3 to carry a 5-10 lead into Day 2.

John Smoltz was one of the U.S. stars on Thursday, going 3-0 in pairings with Roethlisberger, Phelps and J.R. Smith. Smith and Michael Vick also went undefeated, taking victories in two pairings apiece.

Team Rest of the World (ROTW) team faces an uphill battle going into Day 3, which will open with another round of fourballs. However, it would be a mild surprise if they don't make a strong push to even the score.

The Icon Series' official website lists handicaps for each of the 24 icons, and some of the top-rated golfers are on the international team. Kane carries a handicap of zero, while Australian cricket star Ricky Ponting has a handicap of two. South African cricketer AB de Villiers—who earned a win over Rothlisberger and Robbie Gould alongside George Gregan—holds a handicap of 2.3.

Kane said before Day 1 that the change in venue could be a factor.

"I'm not used to holding a golf club in front of hundreds, thousands of people. I'm used to taking a penalty in front of thousands of people," Kane said in a pre-event press conference.

ROTW teammate Barty also said before the series that nerves could play a role.

"I'm going to absolutely be struggling," Barty told Fox Sports’ golf expert Paul Gow (h/t Tyson Otto of news.com.au). "My heart was beating so fast playing the club championships in our final with nothing on the line, so this is going to be a lot of fun."

Expect Kane, Barty and the rest of the international team to settle in and play with confidence on Day 2. Also expect the top international golfers to make things particularly interesting during the final session singles play.

Whether that's enough to overcome a 10-5 deficit, though, is another story. The prediction here is that Team ROTW takes Day 2 but Smoltz—who happens to lead all non-PGA pros with a +1.6 handicap—holds on to help the United States team win the inaugural Icon Series.