Two of the biggest names in golf history plan to go at each other in a one-on-one showdown soon. Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson have been in negotiations on a $10 million, winner-take-all match play event that would pit the two legends against each other in a bit of must-see TV, according to Golf.com.
Woods and Mickelson may no longer be at the peak of their respective games, but they’re still competitive players who draw in the sport’s biggest crowds. The Tiger-Phil rivalry was one of the biggest stories in golf for a period of time. Even if this dream matchup comes later than some had hoped, it would be thrilling if it happens at all.
Mickelson told Golf.com that the original plan was for the match to go down July 3, but the players’ camps couldn’t come to terms on an agreement quickly enough to make that happen. “We’re working on a different date,” Mickelson said on Thursday. “I thought it was done for the 3rd but obviously it wasn’t.”
In April, the two legends played a practice round together at the Masters, then they were paired together a month later at The Players’ Championship. They’ve been known to have a relationship that’s both friendly and highly competitive, with both players taking playful jabs at each other in the press over the years.
Now there’s reportedly a good chance that we could be treated to a match play event where those two players could sort out their rivalry face-to-face. Mickelson even suggested that this could be the beginning of a tour where he faces Woods in multiple one-on-one exhibitions each year.
And while Woods and Mickelson have earned ridiculous amounts of money in their respective careers, a $10 million purse for a single match play is nothing to scoff at.
“It’s a ridiculous amount of money,” Mickelson says. “No matter how much money you have, this amount will take both of us out of our comfort zone.”
