The rumored big money showdown between longtime golf rivals Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson has come to fruition, as the two golf legends will meet at Shadow Creek Golf Course in Las Vegas over Thanksgiving weekend ESPN’s Mike Greenberg.
The possibility of such a match was first floated in early July, when Golf.com revealed that Woods and Mickelson nearly met for a $10 million, winner-take-all 18-hole match in Las Vegas on July 3. But the duel didn’t happen because television and sponsorship deals could not be worked out in time.
How Many Millions at Stake Still TBD
The event will now reportedly take place on either the Friday or Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend (Nov. 23 or 24), allowing both men some time to rest after a busy end to the golf season. While no prize fund has been announced, it’s likely to be large even if it doesn’t hit the previously discussed $10 million, and a winner-takes-all format should create maximum drama for viewers.
“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.”
While Woods is the greatest player of his generation – and some would consider him the greatest golfer of all time – Mickelson has also put together a resume that stacks up with many of the sports all-time greats. The 48-year-old golfer known as “Lefty” has five major titles and 43 PGA Tour wins, and is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame.
Naturally, the 42-year-old Woods can dwarf both of those totals: he has 14 major wins and 79 PGA Tour victories, both of which stand at second all-time (behind Sam Snead and Jack Nicklaus, respectively). It’s a disparity that Phil says he has kept in mind when on the course with Tiger.
“The tough thing is that he has the trump card: his career record,” Mickelson told Golf.com. “So I have to be very careful and strategic in my smack talk, because if I lay something down, in comes a trump card, you know, and then shuts me right up.”
Rivalry Turns to Friendship
In that interview, Mickelson promised that fans would likely hear the two friends exchange more than a little trash talk, something they might not do during an official tournament. But that’s also a sign of how much the relationship between the two stars has warmed over the decades.
Early in his career, Woods rarely talked to or about Mickelson. Woods even played a series of televised exhibition matches against other top players, but waited five years before setting one up with Phil. The two then took part in three televised events between 2003 and 2005, each of which saw them play with teammates in fourball formats, with Mickelson’s team winning two of the three.
The November match will be the first one-on-one encounter for the two, however, and will almost certainly be played for the highest stakes. The Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook is already offering a line on the match, pegging Tiger Woods as a -130 favorite over Mickelson (+110).
