A Tiger Woods–Phil Mickelson match that would include other players has been in the works for some time, but the coronavirus pandemic has put scheduling such an event on hold and it has yet to receive PGA Tour approval.
Mickelson acknowledged the possibility on Twitter on Sunday when he responded to a user pining for a Tiger-Phil matchup during social distancing by saying, “Working on it.”
But Mickelson appears to have been referring to a second version of “The Match” that took place in November 2018, when Mickelson won $9 million in a “winner-take-all” event in Las Vegas.
A new encounter was to include other players, and various outlets such as CNBC and Golf.com have reported Peyton Manning and Tom Brady as the other participants. CNBC said that “match is on and could happen in May,” with the idea of raising money for coronavirus relief. It would be televised on one of the WarnerMedia company outlets such as Turner Sports’ TNT.
“Discussions along these lines have been ongoing for quite some time, but nothing has been approved by the Tour,” the tour said in a statement Wednesday.
Including the Masters and PGA Championship, the PGA Tour has seen 11 events canceled or postponed. Those two major championships are exploring dates later in the year. The next scheduled event on the PGA Tour is the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial May 21-24.
When or how a Tiger-Phil encounter could work remains unclear.
Woods’ agent, Mark Steinberg, was unavailable. Mickelson’s agent, Steve Loy, said that he could offer little because “there are many moving parts.”
An event such as this would need PGA Tour sanctioning, as the tour controls players’ media and television rights. That is why, for example, a player needs a release from the PGA Tour to play a conflicting event, such as in Europe.
CNBC reported that the match would be held at an undisclosed location without spectators and with a small production crew allowing for social distancing recommendations to be observed.