LA QUINTA, CA - JANUARY 19: Phil Mickelson plays his shot from the second tee during the first round of the CareerBuilder Challenge in Partnership with The Clinton Foundation at La Quinta Country Club on January 19, 2017 in La Quinta, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods are discussing the possibility of a match where the winner would earn $10 million, according to a new report.
On Friday, Golf.com reported that the two golf veterans are planning this match, long after an exhibition contest that included Woods and Mickelson had been rumored.
According to ESPN, the pair had discussed this during the Players Championship in May, with Mickelson allegedly saying they should forgo “the ancillary stuff of a tournament and just go head-to-head and just have kind of a high-stakes, winner-take-all match.”
Woods was reportedly not opposed to this idea.
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“I’m definitely not against that,” he said at the time. “We’ll play for whatever makes him uncomfortable.”
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Mickelson is competing at the Greenbrier Classic this week in West Virginia, and told Golf.com that he and Woods had initially envisioned to play the big match in Las Vegas, although they were unable to figure out many of the logistical details on time.
Mickelson, 48, and 42-year-old Woods have been close for years. At the Players Championship, Woods said he loved talking to Mickelson and that he offered him great support through injuries and other career setbacks.
“Phil and I have a great banter,” Woods revealed in May. “We give each other the needle, we always have. But I think our relationship has certainly gotten a lot closer with me being a vice captain the last couple teams and sitting there and having very lengthy conversations with him about things, not just the pairings but just things in general.”
He continued: “When I was trying to deal with the nerve [pain] in my back and trying to come back and play and I wasn’t very good, he always texted me some very encouraging words. And then on top of that, when you guys all saw how I was chipping so poorly, my nerve and my back was not going very good, and I was flinching a lot, and he offered numerous times to help me out with technique and just talk about philosophy.”
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Mickelson also reportedly told Golf.com that he hopes the planned $10 million contest will help pave the way for exhibition matches between him and Woods, whose next start in a major tournament is set to be The Open in Carnoustie, Scotland on July 19.
Fans on Twitter quickly began sharing their excitement over the news of the potential match, with some even using memes and GIFs to make jokes about how big the event would be:
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