Tiger, Lefty await showdown

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 high-stakes showdown Friday.

After years of discussion, the two will compete in “The Match” at Shadow Creek in Las Vegas, Nev., 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 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. 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 three to four weeks and started to basically work on my body and try to get it stronger again,” Woods said. WORLD CUP: In Melbourne, Australia, the World Cup of Golf got underway earlier today with the Malaysian team of former New Mexico Lobo Gavin Green and Ben Leong at 5-under through nine holes, level with Sweden’s Alexander Bjorn and Joakim Lagergren, who had played eight holes.

Today and Saturday, the 28 teams would play fourballs (best ball) while on Friday and Sunday, it will be foursomes (alternate shot).

The top-ranked teams of Australia (Marc Leishman and Cameron Smith) and the United States (Matt Kuchar and Kyle Stanley) were scheduled to tee off last on Thursday.