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TIGER WOODS and Phil Mickelson are iconic figures in golf who have done wondrous things to grow the sport down the decades.
The game has a lot to thank them for, but even a halfwit would struggle to be grateful for what the American rivals did in Las Vegas this weekend.
Woods and Mickelson took part in ‘The Match’. A one-off round of golf which saw the winner claim $9m dollars (just over £7m).
It was dubbed an exhibition and it was. It was an exhibition of grotesque indulgence from two blokes who thought it acceptable and fun to play God on a golf course.
Thousands of viewers in America shelled out 20 dollars
(£15.50) to watch it live on television (no public were admitted). It started as naff, but ended up being downright putrid as two of the greats lowered themselves to this.
Those with nothing better to do tuned in to see a duel in the desert that included Woods and Mickelson having side bets with each other for staggering amounts of cash.
For example, Mickelson offered Woods a $100,000
(£78,000) bet that he would birdie the first hole. Woods responded with ‘double it’, making the wager a staggering
$200,000 (£156,000).
Other side bets took place and in one of several articles dedicated to glamourising the event, specialist magazine ‘Golf Digest’ decided it was a sensible idea to congratulate the duo for throwing their cash around like confetti and insisting the ‘cats’ deserved credit for doing so much to put on a show.
Mickelson even admitted the huge stakes were needed to help replicate the buzz and pressure associated with a normal tournament or Major title.
We shouldn’t be surprised considering Mickelson once took on an Aussie amateur and told him on the first tee he “didn’t get out of bed for less than $2,500”.
The money that changed hands in Vegas went to charity and people will argue it was just a bit of a laugh between a pair of ageing sportsmen who have earned more than $2.5bn combined in their careers.
These two can afford to throw their dollars around and it’s no secret both of them love odds as much as birdies and eagles. But this isn’t the point. Endorsing gambling like this is shallow, crass and irresponsible, not least because Woods and Mickelson are idolised by millions of impressionable youngsters.
Hell, when the adverts came on guess what? Even most of these involved betting firms.
Addicted
Woods is 42 and Mickelson is 48 – both should know better than to crave attention in a way that suggests gambling is free from danger.
Those who think it is should talk to Clarke Carlisle, one of countless former footballers addicted to gambling – and someone who once tried to commit suicide because of it. Or the parents of teacher Jack Ritchie, who took his own life at the age of just 24 while working in Vietnam 12 months ago because he was also hooked on gambling.
In a note to his mum and dad, Liz and Charles Ritchie, he wrote: “I’m past the point of controlling myself and I’m not coming back from this one.”
The timing of the vulgarity in Vegas is made to look even more objectionable because it coincided with the Gambling Commission revealing a shocking rise in the number of children now addicted to betting in the UK.
Almost half a million under-16s have admitted to gambling on a regular basis on slot machines, scratch cards, online and even in bookies.
The scale of it shows this is an addiction now bordering on an epidemic. There is no escaping the lure. Adverts that normalise gambling pop-up on mobile phones and tablets and the increasing problem is now a generational scandal.
Cigarette advertising is banned from sports like football. The presumption being that smoking kills. Which it does.
So does gambling, yet the authorities haven’t found the wit to compare the two addictions and treat them on a par.
Why would they, when sporting heroes like Woods and Mickelson are taking leave of their senses in such shameful fashion to promote gambling in front of a global audience?