It’s been reported for several weeks that golf legends Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson are planning a $10 million, winner-take-all, 18-hole match. And according to Woods’ agent, Mark Steinberg, the details for the event are making significant progress.
Steinberg told ESPN.Com that the longtime rivals are “closer than [they] have been” to finalizing the details, and he expects the event to take place “this year.”
Woods’ agent, Mark Steinberg, said that “we are closer than we have been” to working out the details and that he expected it to occur “this year,” with the location and date still to be determined.
Woods and Mickelson played a nine-hole practice round at Firestone Country Club on Wednesday ahead of this weekend’s WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.
ESPN.Com’s Bob Harig adds that the Woods-Mickelson match “would not occur prior to” the Ryder Cup, which will be Sep. 28-30.
While the location hasn’t been determined for the match, initial reports were that Shadow Creek in Las Vegas is the preferred venue (and the match almost took place July 3 there).
And then there’s figuring out the television details for the showdown. Both players would wear microphones, and Mickelson told Golf.Com’s Alan Shipnuck in July that “you will hear a lot of the comments that you don’t hear on regular TV.”
This dynamic is one of the selling points to their made-for-TV match. Both players are on board with wearing microphones, and Mickelson allows, “You will hear a lot of the comments that you don’t hear on regular TV. We both like to talk smack, and we both have fun with what we’re doing. And the fact that this isn’t an official tournament, that it’s just a head-to-head match, you’ll hear some of the little nuances, some of the little things that you don’t normally pick up.”
Expect more details to emerge on the match in the very near future.
[ESPN]
55% Tiger 45% Phil winning. Tiger beat him once this year for chump change.