How Woods vs Mickelson offered golf a glimpse of the future

In a newly digital age where access is king, golf must adjust and give viewers both on the course and in their armchairs what they want

The Match II showed an example golf could follow (Getty Images for The Match)

Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson teed it up once again on Sunday to settle their rivalry and offered a glimpse of what golf could be like post-coronavirus to boot.

The two great rivals squared off again for a rematch of their first one-on-one, winner-takes-all contest, won by Mickelson, back in 2018.

This time, rather than line their own pockets, The Match II was for charity with all proceeds going to help with Covid-19 relief efforts. What’s more they brought some friends along for the ride.

NFL MVPs Tom Brady and Peyton Manning were alongside the two golfing greats for a foursome and adapted fourball hit around Woods’ home course of Medalist in Florida in some of the first televised golf since the whole sport was shutdown by the pandemic back in March.

In the action, Woods and eight-handicap Manning hit the ground running and never looked back, taking a lead on the third hole they would never relinquish eventually claiming victory 1UP on the last.

It was Brady’s erratic play on the other side that caught most attention, however, with the six-time Super Bowl champion spraying the ball all over in true amateur style. Such is Brady’s flawlessness on the field few have ever seen him struggle so much. One miss was so far right on an early par three it felt comparable to the Hall of Fame quarterback passing a ball left-handed.

One shot, however, silenced all of his critics as, with commentator Charles Barkley continually chipping away at him on the TV, Brady drained his fourth shot from all the way back on the fairway on the par-five seventh hole. “Shut up, Chuck”, Brady responded with a smile.

The money raised – $20million for good causes, double the original target figure – will rightly take the headlines but for golf itself it is arguably these asides that will live longest.

Golf has long suffered from a sort of us versus them divide with those inside and outside the ropes often feeling far further than the physical 30 or 40 yards apart. Add in TV coverage that rarely teases more than a “I played pretty good out there today” out of the tour’s top pros and you have a problem that needs addressing.

In a newly digital age where access is king, golf must adjust and give viewers both on the course and in their armchairs what they want. This made-for-TV match-up did just that with all four players mic’d up for the world to see and hear.

“You want me to mark with a U.S. Open medal,” Woods said having famously won three of the one major Mickelson hasn’t. “Do you have one? I have some silver ones,” Mickelson shot back, referring to his record six runner-up finishes.

In such a setting humour was always going to be immediately obvious with all four exchanging various light-hearted barbs before, during and after, but Mickelson’s scientific explanations of how to execute shots before going on to expertly do so were arguably even bigger highlights. Add in world number four Justin Thomas as a makeshift on-course reporter and this had a little bit of everything for both the casual and ardent golf fan alike.

Non-competition match play lends itself well to such measures of course, but with the PGA Tour set to return in just a few weeks without spectators what better way to keep those watching on from far and wide entertained from their living rooms.

“To be behind the ropes in these guys’ worlds, to be in the arena with them, it was really a special experience,” Manning said afterwards. “It’s something I’ll always remember.”

With a little luck golf itself will learn from it too.