Really Phil? Mickelson and Woods battle it out for £7m but not everyone is pleased
Rory McIlroy was surely right when he argued it would have been better if it had taken place 15 years ago. Eddie Pepperell, too, when he registered his disgust at photographs of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson surrounded by wads of $100 bills.
A ‘putrid attempt at attention’ and ‘pathetic’, the Englishman labelled it.
But, for all the arguments as to the questionable point of Woods and Mickelson playing off in las Vegas this evening in ‘The Match’ for a winner-takes-all prize of $9million (£7m), there will be those who will tune in hoping for a diversion from the even more lurid exploits of Black Friday.
The two legends will be miked up and, given the eye-opening side bet taking place on the first hole, you can be sure there will be plenty of harmless trash-talking from the start.
‘I think the first hole sets up so perfectly for me I’m prepared to bet you $100,000 that I will birdie it,’ said Mickelson, making it clear he was talking about his own money. ‘Double it,’ countered Woods, smirking. Just to be clear, the $200,000 (£155,000) at stake will be donated to charity — and there will be plenty more where that came from.
Now that the pair are far more friendly than in their heyday, they have gone further than would have been the case with the banter.
‘How do you plan to get inside Phil’s head?’ Woods was asked. ‘Have you seen our majors record — I’ve won 14 and he’s won five,’ he responded. ‘I’d say I’ve got into his head pretty good over the past 20 years.’
Mickelson agreed it’s hardly a match-up of equals, saying: ‘Every record I broke in college, he came along and lowered it.
‘There’s no question in my mind that he’s the greatest golfer we’ve ever seen, and his achievement in winning the 2000 US open by 15 shots might be the single greatest feat in all of sport.
‘But that doesn’t mean I can’t beat him over 18 holes here and finally have something on him.
‘Imagine if I won, what it would be like sitting in the locker room at Augusta before the Masters next year?’
But there is no escaping that this event has received a mixed reaction around the world.
Interest from fellow players has been far from warm, with Justin Thomas saying there was ‘zeroper-cent chance’ he would be watching, while McIlroy said: ‘Fifteen years ago it would have been great, but I think nowadays, it missed the mark a little bit.’
Sixteen years ago, Woods and Mickelson were ranked first and second in the world, but are currently 13th and 27th respectively, have a combined age of 90 and were last seen together scoring no points from six matches at the ryder Cup.
‘I’ll be watching,’ said Spaniard Jon rahm. ‘I’m close to Vegas, it’s a four-and-a-half-hour drive, so I’m still deciding if I’m going to go see it in person or not, because I might make a joke with Phil and just tell him I don’t want to pay the pay-per-view.
‘I feel like this match is ten years too late. Maybe when they were both in their prime it would have been extremely amazing. I’m still not clear on the format and they need to clarify it.
‘I’d be surprised if the match finishes before the 17th hole. If somebody has a really bad day, they’re not going to finish on the 13th, two hours too early.’
Whether the contest gets the attention it seeks remains to be seen, but — while the on-course result will not matter — the effect it has on the future of golf broadcasting and gambling could be profound.
Commissioner Jay Monahan admitted in April that ‘there are commercial opportunities’ for the PGA Tour in the expansion of legalised sports betting in the United States, while Mickelson told a pre-event Press conference: ‘The ability to have fantasy golf and live real-time wagering only benefits interest in the game of golf.’
Maybe when they were in their prime, it would have been amazing