Page 4B
SPORTS
East Oregonian
Wednesday, November 21, 2018
COLUMN
The real measure of Tiger vs. Phil is how many watch
By DOUG FERGUSON
AP Golf Writer
T
he winner between Tiger
Woods and Phil Mickelson
might be the least relevant
aspect of their Friday night match
in Las Vegas.
Far more compelling was the
outcome of a 72-hole exhibition
played over two courses for an
obscene amount of money — Harry
Vardon received nearly seven times
more than what he had won from
his one-shot victory over Willie
Park Jr. in the 1898 British Open.
That next summer, Vardon and
Park played an exhibition billed by
the British press as the greatest golf
competition ever. Vardon won 100
British pounds with his 2-up advan-
tage at North Berwick before 10,000
spectators, and another 100 pounds
for completing the 11-and-10 rout
at his home course of Ganton.
So Woods vs. Mickelson is noth-
ing new, except the public is not
allowed at Shadow Creek.
What’s unique about this exhi-
bition, with $9 million supposedly
going to the winner, is the deliv-
ery. This is golf’s first venture into
pay-per-view, and organizers were
smart to keep the price at $19.99,
which is about 25 percent of what
a compelling heavyweight fight
would command.
How many people care enough
to sign up on Black Friday?
“Um, no,” Rory McIlroy said
when he was asked last week in
Dubai if he would pay to watch. “I
contemplated it. I was having lunch
with Phil at one of the FedEx Cup
events and I said, ‘I might watch it.’
He took $25 out of his pocket and
said, ‘No, here’s $25, I’ll pay for it
for you.’ Thank you.”
McIlroy says it might have been
worth it 15 years ago, but that now
it has “missed the mark a little bit.”
Woods and Mickelson remain
the two biggest names in golf even
in this tidal wave of youth, but their
one-sided rivalry — Woods was
the only rival Mickelson had, not
the other way around — has been
dormant for five years. This feels
old, and the relentless promotion at
times has made it feel contrived.
Is it a bad idea? Not at all.
There is no downside to Woods
and Mickelson squaring off in a
pay-per-view event on a beautiful
golf course at Shadow Creek that
everyone seems to know but hardly
anyone has seen. But when the big-
gest upside is that there’s no down-
side, selling it becomes an uphill
battle.
There will be plenty of talking,
and Mickelson is rarely without
words. There will be side action.
That’s part of what makes this dif-
ferent from the “Showdown at
Sherwood,” a Monday night exhi-
AP Photo/Dave Martin, File
In this Sept. 17, 2004, file photo,
U.S. team player Phil Mickelson
puts his arm around partner Ti-
ger Woods as they walk off the
18th green after they lost to Eu-
ropeans Darren Clarke and Lee
Westwood on the final hole of
their foursomes match at the
35th Ryder Cup. They play a
high-stakes exhibition Friday in
Las Vegas in golf’s first venture
using pay-per-view.
bition between Woods and David
Duval in 1999 when they were in
their prime and battling for No. 1 in
the world.
The question is whether it has a
future.
That’s about the only thing that
piques the interest of Alastair John-
ston, vice chairman of IMG who
knows a little about these golf
exhibitions.
Johnston was deeply involved
with the Skins Game when it began
in 1983 until it had run its course in
2008. In the midst of that run were
the Monday night matches that fea-
tured Woods against Duval, Sergio
Garcia and then a team format that
ended — thankfully — when it had
Woods, Mickelson, John Daly and
Retief Goosen.
“It’s very tough for me to criti-
cize it, but it’s very tough to praise
it,” Johnston said.
That covers a lot of territory for
a lot of golf fans. Those who live
to criticize will be reaching for
low-hanging fruit. Those who want
to watch Woods and Mickelson go
head-to-head will have no trouble
finding entertainment.
“I’ll be interested, from a pro-
fessional standpoint, in how many
viewers it gets, how many pay,”
Johnston said. “How many people
actually care to spend money on
that, and does it lead to other oppor-
tunities and different delivery sys-
tems? Golf hasn’t been tested like
that. That’s what intrigues me.”
The PGA Tour has approved
only one of these matches, even as
there is talk of a franchise.
History suggests this won’t have
much staying power. The Skins
Game was ideal for Thanksgiving
weekend, and there was plenty of
star power among Jack Nicklaus,
Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Lee
Trevino, Tom Watson, Fred Cou-
ples and others.
Golf has that now with a strong
core of young major champions,
and perhaps that’s in the future.
But more episodes of Woods
and Mickelson will get old, and his-
tory suggests that Woods and any
collection of players might not be
enough. In the old Monday night
exhibitions, Woods went from a
7.6 national rating with Sergio Gar-
cia to a 3.0 in the last of the team
events.
So the only outcome on Black
Friday is how many care, even
when it involves the one player
everyone loves to watch.
Johnston recalls not so fondly the
time he put together a unique con-
cept in 1997, the year Woods set 20
records at the Masters and won by
12. He was to play against Michael
Jordan, Ken Griffey Jr. and Kevin
Costner. For every hole Woods
won, they could choose which club
to take out of his bag. They had
walk-up music. It was taped to be
shown on Christmas Day. It was
called “Tiger & Friends.”
But then Jordan and Costner had
to pull out, replaced by NASCAR
driver Jeff Gordon and actor Chris
O’Donnell. And then it rained.
The forecast is for sunshine
and mild weather in Las Vegas on
Friday.
That’s a start.
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