WOODS, MICKELSON FACE OFF FOR $9M
Ryder Cup teammates go one-on-one in golf’s first pay-per-view event
Golf used to have a prominent place on the Thanksgiving weekend calendar with The Skins Game. That made-for-TV event ended in 2008 but Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson will have their own highstakes showdown Friday.
After years of discussion, the two will compete in “The Match” at Shadow Creek in Las Vegas, a $9 million winner-take-all event that will air on pay-per-view.
Many wondered if a Woods vs. Mickelson match was a thing of the past.
The two have combined for 123 PGA Tour victories and 19 majors but had struggled in recent years. Talk of a match was revived earlier this year when Mickelson won in Mexico and Woods started to be competitive again before winning at The Tour Championship in September.
Mickelson said the original premise was both partnering up with some of the sport’s younger stars, but television executives and fans have always wanted to see the two go head to head.
“To have the opportunity to go head to head and to win is just, it’s great to win the $9 million. I just don’t want to lose to him and give him the satisfaction, because the bragging rights are what’s going to be even worse than the money,” Mickelson said during a press conference Tuesday.
Both were part of the U.S. team at the Ryder Cup but have not competed since then.
“After the Ryder Cup, I shut it down for about 3-4 weeks and started to basically work on my body and try to get it stronger again,” Woods said. “I was really looking forward to the break, but I’m really looking forward to getting back to playing again. I missed competing, and to be able to go against Phil like this gets my juices flowing for sure.”
Mickelson said he has been working on his game the past four weeks and that this is a good way during the offseason to prepare for next year.
Many golf fans are used to made-for-TV events that have been genteel affairs. This will be the complete opposite.
For starters, this is believed to be golf’s first pay-per-view match. This is the first major event with Warner Media, which was formed after the recent merger between Time Warner and AT&T. Turner Sports and BR Live are producing the event and it is being shown online as well as on DirecTV and AT&T U-Verse and other cable and satellite outlets for $19.95. /