Turned-around Tiger bets on win
On Black Friday 2009, the invincible Tiger Woods became human. On Black Friday 2018, Tiger Woods faces Phil Mickelson in a $9 million, winner-take-all, pay-perview match in Las Vegas. There’s more than one Mirage in Vegas this week. These two golfers are a combined 90 years old and left their best game somewhere in the last decade. Tiger and Phil have amassed 123 PGA Tour victories, but only two of those have come in the past 1,937 days. They have 19 major championships, but none since 2013. Today’s $19.95 cash grab isn’t as much about golfing as it is about personality, bragging rights and competition. Not to mention that $9 million and Charles Barkley in the pregame show. America loves a good comeback. Woods gave it to us in 2018. Today’s match is a victory lap for Tiger. He is playing the lead in a made-for-TV spectacle, while Phil has settled into his role of combative, wise-cracking underdog. Woods went from barely being able to swing a club a year ago to beating the best of the best at the Tour Championship in August. Each week, Woods spoke with gratitude about his latest opportunity. He sounded an awful lot like the middleaged dad that he is. The Young Gun who shocked the world at the 1997 Masters is long gone. Woods continues to cede ground to Father Time. But like Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, he has shown remarkable resilience after age 40. Since Woods drove his Cadillac Escalade into the fire hydrant in front of his Windermere, Fla., house on the bleakest of Black Fridays nine years ago, his public image and golf game have been torn down and resurrected. Twice. He witnessed his infidelities and personal woes splashed across the media, went through a very public divorce, had four back surgeries, was arrested for DUI on Memorial Day in 2017, weathered a five-year victory drought and all of sudden turned 42. Just 18 months ago, Woods’ bloated face, via mug shot following his arrest, flashed across the nation as if it were an obit for his professional career. He eventually pleaded guilty to reckless driving and completed his probation earlier this year. Woods has been, with some argument from the Brady, LeBron James and Serena Williams lobbies, the most impactful sports personality of the 20th century. Mickelson, at 48, meanwhile has morphed into the PGA Tour’s ranking elder spokesman. He skirted the legal rough after being implicated but not charged in a 2017 insider-trading case involving noted gambler Billy Walters. Court records show Lefty paid a $1.95 million gambling debt to Walters in 2012, just months after booking his profits from the stock trades in question. Mickelson settled a civil case involving the trades by giving back $931,738 in profit, plus interest. He neither admitted nor denied allegations made in the SEC complaint. Ponder all that when the two are playing the first hole today. Mickelson and Woods have a $200,000 bet riding on the outcome. Today’s match is a test run of just how much legalized gambling may impact professional sports. There is expected to be rampant betting between the two golfers, while legal sports books in the United States are taking action on multiple prop and straight wagers. Tiger. Phil. Golf. Gambling. As Thanksgiving leftovers go, we could do a lot worse.