$10-million showdown between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson set for Thanksgiving weekend
The date has finally been set for the golf showdown pitting two of the sport’s biggest stars. Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson will compete against one another for $10 million on Thanksgiving weekend, per ESPN’s Mike Greenberg.
The match will take place November 23 or 24
In early July, Alan Shipnuck of golf.com reported that the two superstars had first discussed this one-on-one match during a practice round at The Masters. The two parties then moved toward a date of July 3, but final negotiations — including a television deal and several corporate deals — weren’t finalized in time for that.
Instead, the new date is set for November 23 or 24, as Greenberg reported Thursday morning. The match will take place at Shadow Creek Golf Course in the Las Vegas area. It will be a match-play format, and the purse is reportedly $10 million. Woods, 42, and Mickelson, 48, are the top two active earners on the PGA Tour (Woods with over $112 million, Mickelson with over $87 million), and those figures don’t include endorsement deals.
Players will be miked up
Expect to hear plenty of banter between two of the game’s most notorious trash talkers during the round. Both Woods and Mickelson agreed to be miked up, creating a television experience that viewers do not get normally.
As Mickelson told Shipnuck:
“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.”
Depending on the success of this event, both Woods and Mickelson hope this starts a series of events of a similar nature, pitting individuals or small teams against one another with a high purse at stake.
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