No major title at stake, but bragging rights up for grabs in highly-anticipated Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson charity match

Since their first match, there has been a lot of anticipation of another Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson match-up. And now it comes, albeit in Corona times in the form of Capital One’s The Match: Champions for Charity. And it comes for a great cause, as the two golfing legends of our times, team up with two of the greatest NFL football players, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady. Between the four, they share an incredible amount of fan following. While Woods and Mickelson may not be much to talk about when it comes to playing football, Manning and Brady are no slouches in golf - single digit handicaps, experience of playing at the very best of courses and great friends with Woods and Mickelson. The promos show some great ribbing and the channels are getting ready for some massive audiences coming on the heels of the ‘TaylorMade Driving Relief’ which featured Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson, Rickie Fowler and Matt Wolff last weekend. That exhibition raised over US $5.5 million.

Tiger.
Phil.

A look at their swings every year since 1996. pic.twitter.com/qMRqACOWnG

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 22, 2020

Now Woods, Mickelson, Manning and Brady get together for a US$ 10 million, as golf prepares for its comeback ahead of the scheduled resumption on 19 June. The combined successes across the two sports – golf and NFL – of Woods, Mickelson, Manning and Brady, spans over past two and a half decades and it makes for some compelling reading. Between the golf legends they have played just under 1000 PGA Tour events – 983. Woods and Mickelson have 126 wins including 20 Majors, besides 67 second place finishes. Woods also has 11 Player of the Year Awards. Manning and Brady have 405 wins (matches) and eight Super Bowl wins, besides eight Player-of-The-Year Awards. But money is certainly a tad more – well a lot more – in football, as Manning and Brady have amassed $483,898,804, while Woods- Mickelson combine have less than half of that at $ 211,960,219. All four have countless millions in endorsement and goodwill, too. They clash is on Sunday, 24 May, at Medalist Golf Club. Woods teams up with Manning, while Mickelson is paired with Brady as they play a four-ball (best-ball) format on the front nine and a modified alternate-shot format on the back. Woods and Mickelson have played in the same grouping 37 times on the PGA Tour, with Woods shooting the better score 18 times to Mickelson’s 15. Woods has won 10 times compared to Mickelson’s five when went head to head in the same group. They have finished 1-2 in Tour events nine times over the course of their sterling careers, beginning at the 1998 Sentry Tournament of Champions, where Mickelson held off a furious Sunday rally from Woods to win. The pair finished 1-2 in an event in five consecutive years and last accomplished the feat at the 2009 Tour Championship. Mickelson got the better of Woods that time, too, as he shot a bogey-free 65 on the final day to win by three shots. The best of those epic matchups ? It is probably the 2005 Ford Championship at Doral in Miami, where Woods edged aside Mickelson by one shot. “It was electric,” said Woods, who went out in 33 strokes to shave a shot off his deficit as Mickelson turned in 34. Hang in for one more on Sunday. There may not be a Major or a PGA Tour title at stake, but there’s a lot of bragging rights that go with the match at Medalist on Sunday. The match will begin 5.30 am (IST) on 24 May.