The Sun (Malaysia)

Tiger vs Phil II on the cards

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AMERICAN golfer Phil Mickelson got fans excited in the midst of a virtual halt to live sports by the coronaviru­s pandemic when he hinted at a rematch with longtime rival Tiger Woods.

Mickelson was asked on Twitter about the possibilit­y of a round of golf against Woods being live streamed in the near future, and the left-hander replied: “Working on it.”

When another fan tweeted to Mickelson asking him not to “tease”, the 49-year-old responded: “I don’t tease. I’m kinda a sure thing.”

Woods and Mickelson first squared off in an exhibition match under the floodlight­s at Shadow Creek Golf Club in Las Vegas in November 2018.

Mickelson, whose tally of five major championsh­ips is well shy of the 15 held by Woods, ended up winning the match and the US$9 million (RM39m) payout on the fourth playoff hole.

Last October, Mickelson said he would be interested in playing with Woods again.

“I really enjoyed it,“he told the South China Morning Post.

“I hope that Tiger and I will do more events like that in the future with partners, because we didn’t have enough talking between us and I think that a partner will have more interactio­n.

“(The partners) could be other athletes, that would bring a certain element, too.”

So, could we see Tiger vs Phil II? It certainly seems within the realm of possibilit­y.

Two players, on an empty golf course, with a bare bones camera crew streaming the match live. The match would give fans exactly what they need while providing gamblers some much appreciate­d action.

The first head-to-head match in Las Vegas was initially scheduled to be a pay-per-view event, but technical difficulti­es led to the match being streamed on Bleacher Report free of charge.

Musicians and entertaine­rs have been streaming free performanc­es during the Covid-19 pandemic, many of which have generated charitable funds for doctors, nurses and first responders.

Could Phil and Tiger pull something off along the same lines? It seems like a nobrainer to this golf fan.

The PGA Tour season currently remains suspended until the end of May, while the

Masters and the PGA

 ?? –
Reuters/Agencies ?? Woods Championsh­ip have both been postponed over coronaviru­s concerns.
– Reuters/Agencies Woods Championsh­ip have both been postponed over coronaviru­s concerns.

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