Golf: Woods, Mickelson to team up with NFL stars for blockbuster charity duel
Woods, Mickelson back for another shoot-out, Manning and Brady join fray
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LOS ANGELES • Golf stars Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson are reuniting for a follow-up to their head-to-head showdown, this time alongside American football icons Peyton Manning and Tom Brady - an event that could serve as a key test of how the sports world adapts to the coronavirus pandemic.
The two-on-two competition - several kinds of matchplay formats are being considered - would be held without spectators in Florida, airing live on TV, with the proceeds going to help battle the Covid-19 outbreak, American broadcaster ESPN reported.
Turner Sports said one possible date is the Memorial Day weekend of May 23-25, meaning it will be one of the first major events to take place following the shutdown of the US sports calendar.
"After feeling the sting of defeat the first time around, Looks like @TigerWoods is bringing a ringer to The Match (#PeytonManning)," wrote Mickelson, who added that he is bringing Brady.
Quarterbacks Brady and Manning, two of the greatest players in National Football League history, are both accomplished golfers.
Brady, a six-time Super Bowl champion who has just signed for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after spending his entire career with the New England Patriots, has a 8.1 handicap.
Manning, who retired in 2016 and is the only starting quarterback to win Super Bowls with different teams - the Indianapolis Colts in 2006 and Denver Broncos in 2016, is listed as a 6.4 handicapper.
He told a Denver radio station on Wednesday that there had been talks about such an event anyway.
"And now, to have a chance to have a major fund-raising event for Covid-19 relief, almost like a telethon if you will... if that can take place, I'm all in for that," he said.
The Action Network reported that it is likely Woods and Manning, both 44, will compete against Mickelson, 49, and Brady, 42.
One location said to be considered is Medalist Golf Club in Hobe Sound, Florida, located just north of Woods' home in Jupiter.
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FAMED FOURSOME
TIGER WOODS, 44
15 Majors, 82 PGA Tour wins
PEYTON MANNING, 44
Handicap: 6.4
2 Super Bowls, 5 NFL MVPs
PHIL MICKELSON, 49
5 Majors, 44 PGA Tour wins
TOM BRADY, 42
Handicap: 8.1
6 Super Bowls, 3 NFL MVPs
Florida's Republican Governor Ron DeSantis said last week he supported the return of sports contests during the pandemic and mentioned a potential Woods-Mickelson match.
"I'd like to see Woods and Mickelson do the golf, or whatever, because that's social distance," he said.
"You wouldn't have a gallery there. You wouldn't have crowds. But to put that on TV, I think people have been starved for content."
The PGA Tour, which would need to approve any televised or streamed event in which its players participate, said that it has yet to sign off but "is still working to ensure health and safety concerns, among other things".
Woods and Mickelson are the two most successful golfers of their era, with 15 and five Majors respectively.
Neither has played since the PGA Tour cancelled the Players Championship after the first round on March 12 owing to the coronavirus pandemic. The season was then shut down indefinitely.
The two big names previously played a pay-per-view exhibition in November 2018 that was beset with technical difficulties and ultimately streamed for free.
Mickelson won the US$9 million (S$12.8 million) event in Las Vegas in 22 holes in a contest largely devoid of the trash talk that many viewers were hoping to witness.
But the addition of Brady and Manning is likely to spice things up, and be a big television draw for a national and international audience starved of live sport due to the coronavirus shutdown.
The Tour's revised schedule begins with the June 11-14 Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial in Fort Worth, Texas.
That event and three more PGA Tour competitions in subsequent weeks would be played without fans.
The rest of the calendar includes the rescheduled Majors - the PGA Championship in August in San Francisco, the US Open in September in Westchester County, New York, and the Masters in Augusta, Georgia, in November.
The biennial Ryder Cup, with Europe defending their title, is scheduled for late September in Wisconsin.
BLOOMBERG, NYTIMES, REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
