Mickelson wins TV glitch-marred match
Phil Mickelson birdied the fourth playoff hole to beat Tiger Woods in their $9-million madefor-TV match Friday in Las Vegas.
Mickelson made a four-foot birdie putt on a specially set up 93yard, par three. The match at Shadow Creek Golf Club finished in the dark with lights set up around the hole.
Mickelson said to Woods afterward: “Just know I will never let you live that down. It’s not the Masters or the U.S. Open, but it is nice to have a little something on you.”
Only 700 invited guests were allowed to watch the event billed as golf ’s first pay-per-view broadcast. It was marred by technical difficulties with viewers unable to view it on their televisions after paying $19.95. Turner and Bleacher Report representatives sent out links on social media allowing people to view it free on their computers and mobile devices.
Representatives from Turner didn’t respond to requests from the Associated Press for comment.
Mickelson was one up after 16 holes, but Woods tied it with birdie from the fringe of the green on the par-three 17th. Both birdied the par-five 18th and then parred the first playoff hole before it went to the par-three extra hole — which was pitch shots off the practice putting green — that they kept playing until there was a winner.
“You couldn’t have made this event any better than it was,” Woods said. “It was back and forth and very competitive on a golf course that was playing on the tricky side.”
Aaron Rai shot a course-record 61 to take a four-stroke lead after the second round at the Hong Kong Open, as his fellow Englishman Tommy Fleetwood moved into contention in the first European Tour event of the 2019 season. Michigan’s football coach after the Chippewas finished 1-11 this season. The school said that Bonamego will not return, hours after Central Michigan lost its season finale to 51-13 to Toledo .
In Lille, France, Croatia moved closer to its second Davis Cup crown after Borna Coric and Marin Cilic dispatched their France rivals in the opening singles of the final. After Coric dismantled Jeremy Chardy 6-2, 7-5, 6-4, the seventh-ranked Cilic beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 on the indoor clay court. Croatia, which won its sole title in 2005, leads 2-0 and needs one more point to depose the defending champions.
Mike Matheny was hired by the Kansas City Royals as a special advisor for player development, putting the former St. Louis Cardinals manager in position as a possible successor to Royals manager Ned Yost, 64.