Golfing greats Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson are set to renew their rivalry when they take on the second edition of The Match: Champions for Charity on Sunday.
Of course, their playing partners, NFL stars Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, will draw a lot of attention in an excellent cause with all proceeds going to Covid-19 relief.
But, given the current climate of world golf, Woods vs Mickelson is set to ignite the hunger and passion for the game once more as fans get to see two of the all-time greats go head to head.
The previous time these two clashed in the very first The Match, Mickelson came out on top in match-play format at Shadow Creek Golf Course in Las Vegas.
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Giving their significant record a glance, as per the PGA Tour website, Woods and Mickelson are the only two players born after 1965 with more than 20 wins on the PGA Tour and since the start of the century, either Woods or Mickelson have won 17% of the events on tour.
The pair also seem to bring out the best in each other when they play in the same group. Mickelson has averaged two strokes gained per round when playing alongside Woods in the past 15 years; that is 0,88 strokes higher than his normal average for this period.
On the other hand, since 2005 Woods has averaged 2.17 strokes gained per round when playing with Mickelson, compared to his normal average of 2.01.
Since Mickelson won his maiden PGA Tour title back in 1991, Woods and the left-hander have won the most and second-most events on the tour with 82 and 44, respectively.
Combining the following six players on the list with most wins on the PGA Tour – Vijay Singh, Dustin Johnson, Ernie Els, Davis Love III, Rory McIlroy and Jim Furyk – produces one more win (127) than the total Woods and Mickelson have won together in that period (126).
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It’s fair to say the domination of these two great icons has shaped modern golf in a spectacular way – at least on the PGA Tour. Given the tragedy the world and the USA are currently experiencing, to witness these two greats and their NFL partners have go at it should be a great morale booster for fans.
It is expected that Sunday’s battle at Medalist Golf Club in Florida will be broadcast on CNN but this is yet to be confirmed.
