Fifteen miles from the Las Vegas Strip, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, rivals for more than two decades, will go head-to-head Friday in a high-stakes duel in the desert.
Billed as The Match, the two best players of their generation face off on an 18-hole gem with a huge pot of cash up for grabs. Woods has gotten the better of Mickelson during their storied careers but that will mean little in this one-day showdown with millions of dollars on the line.
The match begins at 3 p.m. ET.
Who's playing: Tiger Woods (14 major championship titles, 80 PGA Tour victories) vs. Phil Mickelson (5 majors, 43 PGA Tour victories). Each won a tournament this year — Woods, 42, took home the championship hardware at The Tour Championship; Mickelson, 48, won the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship. Those were the first wins since 2013 for both players.
Where are they playing: Shadow Creek Golf Course, a man-made marvel in the Mojave Desert that is as challenging as it is beautiful. The course, a par-72 that can tip out at 7,560 yards, features many risk-reward holes, a stout collection of par-3s and long par-4s with doglegs.
What's the purse: A winner-take-all $9 million. It’s not the players’ money. Instead, sponsors put up the cash.
What's the format: Match play. Each hole is basically a tournament, as a player earns a point if he beats his opponent on the hole. The winner is the player with the most points at the end of play, which could be on the 10th hole if a player wins the first nine holes.
Source: Read Full Article