It took 22 holes and floodlights to finally finish, but The Match made Phil Mickelson $9 million richer on Friday in Sin City.
While there’s no official report of how much Phil added to or lost from his grand total at the Las Vegas casinos, he defeated Tiger Woods 1-up at Shadow Creek after birdieing the fourth playoff hole, a 93-yard made-up hole in which the competitors teed off from the practice putting green and hit to a newly-cut hole on the 18th green.
After Mickelson and Woods both had two chances each to win The Match prior, Phil rolled in a 4-footer for victory.
“To be able to have just a little bit of smack talk for the coming years means a lot to me,” Mickelson said afterward. “My heart can’t take much more.”
Phil Mickelson wins #CapitalOnesTheMatch four playoff holes later ? pic.twitter.com/pMilz3iUOR
— Bleacher Report Live (@brlive) November 24, 2018
For all of its warts, The Match delivered down the stretch. The balance never moved more than 1-up in either direction, and with his back up against the wall, Tiger Woods responded on the 17th hole as only he can.
Facing a tough lie up against the cut of rough, Tiger hit a bump-and-run that found the bottom of the cup to square The Match through 17 holes and give the finish the shot in the arm that it needed.
TIGER. CLUTCH.
We’re tied heading into the 18th hole ?#CapitalOnesTheMatch pic.twitter.com/HXPHoVOKCR— Bleacher Report Live (@brlive) November 23, 2018
The two legends played the 18th hole for a second time before heading to the contrived 20th hole, but Mickelson missed a 20-footer to win there. On the 21st hole, Phil missed an 8 footer and Tiger had a 10 footer on the 22nd to put the pressure on Phil, but missed that as well.
Finally and mercifully, Mickelson knocked in a 4-footer to put Woods out of his misery and claim the biggest single prize in tournament golf. Mickelson had previously won nearly 90 million dollars on the course in his career, and he won more than 10% of that amount on Saturday.
The side bets totaled close to $2 million, but only $800,000 were won. There were both high and low lights, but in the end, The Match turned out to be whatever the viewer wanted it to be. Some loved it, some hated it, but the most important part of it all was that it happened.
The foundation was laid for golf on pay-per-view. The golf wasn’t great, but the spectacle was. However you view it is your prerogative, but it gave millions of people something to talk about in the middle of an otherwise golf-less Black Friday.
