December will see the return of The Match, with Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler set to take on Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka in a battle which pits four of the biggest stars from the PGA Tour and LIV Golf against each other.
It obviously has the potential to be brilliant viewing. It is a time of a year where the star-studded events are few and far between. Meanwhile, it is obviously not that often that PGA Tour and LIV Golf stars face off.
It definitely has the makings of being the best edition yet of The Match, which started in 2018 when Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson faced off at Shadow Creek. Of course, that contest pitted two of the greatest of all-time against each other.
The pair were battling it out for $9 million, with Mickelson taking the prize after four play-off holes. And speaking to Fairway to Heaven, former Turner president David Levy explained why exactly the PGA Tour were against the pair playing for $10 million.
Why Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson played for $9 million in The Match
“I liked the idea, I went back and talked with John Stankey and the pitch – I had to think about what’s the pitch I’m going to say because this is going to get expensive. At the time, I had a $10 million purse on it. When we got it cleared by the PGA, it went down to $9 million,” he said.
“That number was because they didn’t want it to be the same number as what the FedEx Cup winner would get, which was $10 million, so they made me drop it to $9 million. It seems like an awful weird number to win, $9 million versus $10 million, but anyhow, we left it at $9 million.”
How Mickelson beat Woods in The Match
It is fair to say that the contest was somewhat underwhelming. While it was exciting to see Woods and Mickelson face each other in a matchplay tussle, the spectacle was hardly the most enthralling.
Those hoping for trash-talking between the long-time rivals were left disappointed. Meanwhile, the side bets proposed during the game arguably added little to the drama, particularly when you consider the sums they were already playing for.
Neither player found themselves 2 up at any stage in the match, with Woods actually only leading for one hole. Mickelson was ahead for the large majority of the first two-thirds of the game.
Obviously, expectations were a factor in why some would have been disappointed. Woods and Mickelson are two of the most successful players in history – and they both won another major title in the years after.
And it is potentially telling that DeChambeau and Koepka have been the only golfers to compete in a one on one edition of The Match since.
Hopefully, December’s contest does deliver a much more thrilling battle.
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