REPORT: TIGER-PHIL MATCH WILL BE THANKSGIVING WEEK
Move over, NFL and college football. Make way for a new event that reportedly is coming to Thanksgiving weekend.
It’s Tiger vs. Phil — or Phil vs. Tiger, depending on your point of view — for a boatload of money, according to ESPN. The highly anticipated showdown between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson will take place either Nov. 23 (Friday) or Nov. 24 at Shadow Creek Golf Course in Las Vegas, ESPN’s Mike Greenberg reported. Rumors about the winner-take-all event have been swirling for a while, with a $10 million payout figure being tossed about. ESPN reported the purse has not yet been determined, but these guys, you know, don’t work cheap.
The event will capitalize on a relationship that has thawed after years of frosty competitiveness and it’s a nod to the fact that Woods turns 43 in December and Mickelson is 48. It’s now or never.
And who doesn’t like money?
“It’s a ridiculous amount of money,” Mickelson told Golf.com last month. “No matter how much money you have, this amount will take both of us out of our comfort zone.”
Masters champion Patrick Reed had perhaps the best idea: Let each guy put up his own money. Woods is No. 1 in all-time earnings and Mickelson comes in second with $87 million. Woods, of course, wasn’t going for that.
“Of course that’s what he would like to see,” Woods said with a smile last month. “I would like to see him put up that money.”
Woods and Mickelson have mellowed in recent years with a rivalry that dates back to junior golf. They were grouped together in the first two rounds of the Players Championship this spring and their relationship has warmed to the point where they could do a little playful trash talking, with Mickelson suggesting a big-payday showdown.
“I love that we’re paired together, I think it’s really fun. We haven’t been paired together in years,” Mickelson said then. “As I look at the cover of the newspaper and the pairing is on there and the excitement that’s been going on around here, it gets me thinking: Why don’t we just bypass all the ancillary stuff of a tournament and just go head-to-head and just have kind of a high-stake, winner-take-all match?”
“Now, I don’t know if he wants a piece of me,” he cracked, “but I just think it would be something that would be really fun for us to do, and I think there would be a lot of interest in it if we just went straight to the final round.”
Woods had the perfect snarky response: “Well, first of all, big picture,” he grinned.
That would include Woods’ 14 major championships to Mickelson’s five.