Phil Mickelson was so unfazed by losing, along with Tom Brady, to Tiger Woods and Payton Manning in “The Match II: Champions for Charity” last Sunday, that he wants more.
Lefty would like to see “The Match” played every year.
“What if Tiger and I were to team up and take on two younger players, or what if we were to team up with younger players and have it be a real high-level golf competition?” Mickelson told the Los Angeles Times. “I think there’s a market for that. But you have to have some personality in there, too, so a guy like Justin Thomas showed how funny he is and he would add a lot to an event like that.
“I think you could showcase guys like Steph Curry and Michael Jordan or Tony Romo and Patrick Mahomes, who are all good golfers, elite talents and have great personalities. Those personalities are going to come out with this event. Or you could have someone who loves the game and is competitive but is really entertaining like Larry David and Bill Murray. I think that could shine.”
Woods and Mickelson have contracted for three “Matches,” with Lefty outlasting Tiger on the 22nd hole of their first meeting on Thanksgiving weekend in 2018.
Now, it seem there might be more.
“I don’t know what specifically it will look like, but it would be a competition while also being entertaining and getting the right mixture of individuals to have their personalities come out the way Peyton and Tom shined in this last one,” Mickelson added. “They were humanized with their golf game yet they were competitive and they were funny and entertaining. They let their sense of humor come out. It’s about finding the right mix of those competitors and I don’t think we could get two better guys than who we had in Peyton and Tom. Going forward that will be the challenge. How do we improve on that?
“ … I thought we learned a lot from the first match to make the second one much better and I think we can continue to add on to that. Having a partner provided for more interaction and I thought the intimacy of the cameras in the golf cart added a ton. These are elements that we’re going to build on going forward and make it even better.”
Bryan Zurff, a film and TV producer who contacted Mickelson a few years ago with the idea of playing “The Match,” said Thanksgiving weekend probably is the target date for the third and final one of the original agreement.
Since the latest match set a cable television golf record by drawing 6.3 viewers at one stage and an overall average of 5.8 million, in addition to raising $20-million for Covid-19 relief, who knows after that?
