1 week Ago By Fraser Watson
Golf icons Phil Mickleson and Tiger Woods might have thrilled galleries during their careers but they left fans seething when they went head-to-head back in 2018. These days, the two Americans are currently on different sides of the sport’s civil war, with Mickleson having joined LIV Golf in 2022. Woods however, rejected a big-money opportunity to join the Saudi-backed tour, and has since been a vociferous critic of the concept.
Both players are some way past their peak, with Mickleson’s last major win coming at the PGA Championship at Kiawah Island in 2021. Woods meanwhile, remarkably claimed his 15th major title at the US Masters in 2019, but just a year later was involved in a high-speed car crash that threatened to end his career. He and Rory McIlroy have recently launched their new TGL venture , a virtual concept designed to attract a new audience to the sport.
But back in 2018, Mickleson and Woods took centre stage in Las Vegas as the pair went head-to-head in a one-off matchplay contest. A huge £7.3million prize fund was made available to the winner, with fans asked to fork out nearly £17 each to watch the match on PPV.
The contest was an enthralling one, with the pair level after 15 holes and then halving the next three to force sudden death. It wasn’t until the fourth extra hole that Mickelson prevailed, and to rub salt into the wounds he also bettered Woods on the three holes where ‘closest the pin’ was in play. That scooped him around £500,000 in bonus payments.
And after the contest, Mickelson’s winnings were placed in front of both players in cash, with Woods left smarting as he was forced to look at the prize fund he’d failed to win. It wasn’t just the 49-year-old left red-faced, though. Turner Sports , who had the rights to broadcast the match, then had to issue refunds to viewers following problems with the live coverage.
During the event, that UK viewers were able to watch for free on Sky Sports , TV bosses were forced to post links on social media allowing people to view it for free after the broadcast hit technical difficulties. Turner Sports later released a statement, saying: “Prior to the start of the event, we experienced a technical issue with the B/R Live paywall that we tried to quickly resolve. We decided to take down the paywall to ensure that fans who already purchased the event would not miss any action.
“This did not impact the live streaming of the competition and fans were treated to an event that was both engaging and memorable. Unfortunately, the pre-match technical issue did occur, and we will offer fans who purchased the event on B/R Live a refund.”.
