The Match: Phil Mickelson baits Tiger Woods into $200K side bet
![a man holding a phone: Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods shake hands during a news conference before The Match: Tiger vs Phil at Shadow Creek Golf Course on Nov. 20.]({"default":{"load":"default","w":"80","h":"53","src":"//img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/BBPVsEB.img?h=533&w=799&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f&x=1967&y=1102"},"size3column":{"load":"default","w":"62","h":"42","src":"//img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/BBPVsEB.img?h=417&w=624&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f&x=1967&y=1102"},"size2column":{"load":"default","w":"62","h":"42","src":"//img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/BBPVsEB.img?h=417&w=624&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f&x=1967&y=1102"}})
@TigerWoods
In fact, those side bets have already started.
The pair participated in a news conference Tuesday ahead of the event. One of the questions was about whether the players have already considered strategy on side bets ahead of time.
@PhilMickelson
Mickelson went all in on his answer, propositioning a huge side bet:
“So I’ve thought a lot about this and there are spots out on the course that are some great spots for a little challenge and the challenges are coming directly out of our pockets, OK?” Mickelson said. “And I feel like the first hole is a great hole for me. And I believe — in fact I’m willing to risk $100,000 that says I birdie the first hole. So that’s how good I feel heading into this match.”
Lefty coming out strong.
He wasn’t done. Mickelson then chirped to Woods about the proposed $100,000 bet: “You don’t have to take it. You don’t have to take it at all. But I’m going to throw that out there.”
How did Woods respond? This is a 14-time major champion, folks. There was a 0.0 percent chance he would back down.
From here, the exchange unfolded:
“Hold on, hold on, hold on,” Woods said to Mickelson. “So you think you can make birdie on the first hole?”
“I know I’m going to make birdie on the first hole,” Mickelson responded.
“Double it (the bet),” Woods said.
And we’re off. But Mickelson, ever the showman, punctuated this back-and-forth with a flourish.
After Woods’ “double it” comment…
Woods pointed out there’s water on the left side of this hole and left tends to be Mickelson’s miss. Mickelson then clarified that what Woods was missing was that he would hit a 2-iron off the tee, leaving him a short-iron from the fairway. Lefty further noted he’s a fantastic short-iron player.
Hence, he feels he “baited” Woods into accepting a favorable bet toward Mickelson.
“Part of it is strategic,” Mickelson said on side bets, “because you’ve got to get them to accept it. So you see how I subtly slipped that in? Yeah I didn’t know how I was going to do that, but I think I found the way.”
An unfazed Woods later reaffirmed the $200,000 side bet simply by saying, “Done.”
We’re three days away and already off to a great start.
The rivalry between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson has captivated golf fans for more than 20 years, but the once-intense on-course competition between two all-time greats has taken a more cordial turn in recent memory, leading to a friendly post-Thanksgiving matchplay event that should still draw plenty of eyeballs.
Woods and Mickelson rank one-two for most major tournament wins among active golfers. Their pedigree speaks for itself, and both have achieved legendary status in the game.
Here is an in-depth look at how their career paths have intersected over time leading up to “The Match,” a celebration of the longstanding competition between the two.
MORE: Pay-per-view and betting info for ‘The Match’
Tiger Woods’ career record, highlights
Woods has been on the winning end of an astounding 80 PGA Tour events. The Arnold Palmer Invitational and Bridgestone Invitational have been especially kind to Woods. He has won each eight times, but hasn’t won either tournament in five years.
The Tour Championship hosted Woods’ triumphant return to PGA glory on Sept. 23, 2018, when he won by two strokes, his first victory since the Bridgestone in 2013.
Woods’ most successful calendar year came in 2000, when he earned nine PGA Tour wins.
Phil Mickelson’s career record, highlights
Although his PGA Tour wins (43) barely total half as many as Woods, Mickelson has had plenty of career success in his own right. No event has treated him better than the AT&T Pro-Am at Pebble Beach, which he has won four times. Similar to Woods, Mickelson endured a major gap in tournament wins before coming out on top at the WGC-Mexico Championship in March 2018, breaking a nearly five-year drought.
Tiger vs. Phil: Who has won more majors?
Woods owns the most major victories by any active golfer (14) and has the second-most all time, behind just Jack Nicklaus. Woods’ first major win came in the 1997 Masters, when he became the youngest golfer to win the tournament at age 21. He has yet to win a major since 2008, when he defeated Rocco Mediate by one stroke in a playoff at the U.S. Open.
Woods also won four consecutive majors, spanning from the 2000 U.S. Open to the 2001 Masters.
Mickelson has five major championships to his name, include three green jackets at The Masters. The only major he has not won is the U.S. Open, a famously elusive tournament for Mickelson, but he has finished as the runner-up in the event six times.
Tiger vs. Phil most memorable moments
Woods and Mickelson have been grouped together on 37 separate occasions through their careers, most recently during the Players Championship in May 2018. Their first head-to-head meeting came at the 1997 NEC World Series of Golf, where they both shot a 72.
Woods won 10 of his first 18 head-to-head meetings with Mickelson and holds the 18-15-4 edge all time.
Then there’s the Ryder Cup, an event both lone-wolf golfers notoriously have struggled in. They were paired together for the first time in 2004, but had a less than successful run, losing in the four-ball and foursome sessions on that day.
The 2005 Ford Championship played host to one of the better showdowns between the two when they were both in final group of the fourth round. Woods ultimately shot a 66 — three strokes better than Mickelson’s 69 — to win the tournament.
More recently, Woods and Mickelson were in the same group for the first two rounds of the 2018 Players Championship, and the ensuing press conferences furthered the more lighthearted relationship between the two.
THE GREATEST GOLFER’S BIOGRAPHY
Tiger (Eldrick) Woods, born December 30, 1975, is a professional golfer and entrepreneur.
Since turning professional in 1996, Tiger has built an unprecedented competitive career. His achievements on the course–105 worldwide wins and 14 majors–have mirrored his success off the course as well.
Woods serves as Founder and CEO of TGR, a multibrand enterprise comprised of his various companies and philanthropic endeavors, including TGR Design, the golf course design company; The TGR Foundation, a charitable foundation; TGR Live, an events production company; and The Woods Jupiter, an upscale sports restaurant.
He has 80 PGA TOUR wins, the second-highest total of any player. His majors victories include the four Masters Tournaments, four PGA Championships, three U.S. Open Championships, and three British Open Championships. With his second Masters victory in 2001, Tiger became the first golfer ever to hold all four professional major championships at the same time.
In winning the 2000 British Open at St. Andrews, Woods became the youngest to complete the career Grand Slam of professional major championships and only the fifth ever to do so, following Ben Hogan, Gene Sarazen, Gary Player, and Jack Nicklaus. Tiger was also the youngest Masters champion ever, at the age of 21 years, three months and 14 days, and was the first major championship winner of African or Asian heritage. The 2000 U.S. Open and 2001 Masters victories came by record margins, 15 strokes and 12 strokes, respectively.
He is the career victories leader among active players on the PGA TOUR, and is the career money list leader.
Despite being unable to play the majority of 2016, Woods, the entrepreneur and philanthropist, made significant news. In February, the TGR Learning Lab in Anaheim celebrated its 10th anniversary, with satellite facilities now located in Washington, DC, Philadelphia and Stuart, Florida. Eight months later in October, the Tiger Woods Foundation commemorated its 20th anniversary with a gala event at the New York Public Library featuring Woods and Nike’s Phil Knight.
The Woods Jupiter celebrated its first anniversary—the restaurant opened in August, 2015—and TGR Design’s Bluejack National course located outside Houston, Texas was selected Best New Private Course by both Golf Digest and Golf Magazine/Sports Illustrated.
He is the career victories leader among active players on the PGA TOUR, and is the career money list leader.
Tiger is the son of Earl Woods, a retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army, and his wife, Kultida, a native of Thailand. Â He was nicknamed Tiger after a Vietnamese soldier and friend of his father, Vuong Dang Phong, to whom his father had also given that nickname.
He grew up in Cypress, California. He took an interest in golf at age 6 months, watching as his father hit golf balls into a net and imitating his swing. Â He appeared on The Mike Douglas Show at age 2, putting with Bob Hope. He shot 48 for nine holes at age 3 and was featured in Golf Digest at age 5.
Tiger played in his first professional tournament in 1992, at age 16, the Los Angeles Open, and made the 36-hole cut and tied for 34th place in the 1994 Johnnie Walker Asian Classic in Thailand, He entered Stanford University in 1994 and in two years he won 10 collegiate events, concluding with the NCAA title.
Woods compiled one of the most impressive amateur records in golf history, winning six USGA national championships before turning professional on August 27, 1996. He concluded his amateur career by winning an unprecedented third consecutive U.S. Amateur title, finishing with a record 18 consecutive match-play victories.
The week after winning his third U.S. Amateur title, Woods played his first tournament as a professional in the Greater Milwaukee Open. It was one of only seven events left in 1996 for him to finish among the top 125 money winners and earn a player’s card for the PGA TOUR. He won twice and placed among the top 30 money winners.
Woods won four PGA TOUR events in 1997, plus one overseas, and was the leading money winner. Â He achieved No. 1 on the Official World Golf Ranking for the most rapid progression ever to that position. On June 15, 1997, in his 42nd week as a professional, Woods became the youngest-ever No. 1 golfer at age 21 years, 24 weeks.
Woods won eight times on the PGA TOUR in 1999 (11 worldwide), including the PGA Championship. He won four consecutive PGA TOUR events to end the year and started 2000 with two more victories for a total of six in succession.
In 2000, Woods won 11 events, including three professional majors in the same year, and also became the first player since 1936-37 to win the PGA Championship in consecutive years. Woods won five times, including the Masters, in 2001 and eight times worldwide. He won five times again on TOUR in 2002, and seven times worldwide, and was the TOUR’s leading money winner for the fourth consecutive year.
Woods won five times, including the Masters, in 2001 and eight times worldwide.
He won a total of 20 times from 2003-06, lead the TOUR’s money list twice and captured four majors. Woods joined Nicklaus as the only player to win the Grand Slam twice. His emotional win the following year at the British Open at Royal Liverpool came two months after his father’s death. He won the 2006 PGA Championship by five strokes at Medinah CC, the same venue where he won the event in 1999.
He began 2007 with his seventh consecutive PGA TOUR victory and ended the year with a total of seven official wins, including a second-consecutive PGA Championship. In 2008, he won four of six PGA TOUR events, including his 14th major at the U.S. Open—his last event of the year before season-ending knee surgery—plus the Dubai Desert Classic, and finished second on the TOUR money list in just six starts. At his major win at Torrey Pines, Woods sank a 12-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole to force an eventual 19-hole playoff (tied at even-par 71 after 18 holes) the following day.  He later revealed that he had played the tournament with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee and a double stress fracture in the same leg.
In 2009, he returned to the winner’s circle after 286 days and ended the year leading the PGA TOUR in victories (6) and money ($10,508,163). He also won his first tournament in Australia. He captured three tournaments in 2012 and five in 2013.
Sports Illustrated selected Woods as the 1996 and 2000 Sportsman of the Year, the first to win the award more than once. L’Equipe (France) selected him as the 2000 World Champion of Champions. The Associated Press chose Woods as the Male Athlete of the Year for 1997, 1999 and 2000. He and Michael Jordan are the only athletes to win the award three times. He was chosen ESPY Male Athlete of the Year in 1997 (tied with Ken Griffey, Jr.), 1999, 2000 and 2001. The founding members of the World Sports Academy, in voting for the Laureus Sports Awards, also selected him as the 1999 and 2000 World Sportsman of the Year. In 2008 Businessweek made Woods No. 1 in The Power 100 for the most influential people in sports. In 2009 he was selected AP Athlete of the Decade. Woods received 56 of 142 votes cast by AP editors throughout the country. He was also inducted into the Stanford Athletics Hall of Fame.
Woods was selected as the 1997, 1999, 2000-2003, 2005-2007, 2009, 2013 Player of the Year by the PGA TOUR (Jack Nicklaus Award) and the PGA of America and by the Golf Writers Association of America in 1997, 1999, 2000-2003, 2005-2007, 2009. His adjusted scoring average averages in 2000 and 2007 of 67.79 strokes were the lowest ever and earned him the Byron Nelson Award on the PGA TOUR and the Vardon Trophy from the PGA of America. He also had an actual scoring average in 2000 of 68.17, breaking Nelson’s record of 68.33 in 1945.
