“The Match” was a cool idea, but that’s where it ended. It was just a cool idea. It failed on multiple levels to get past that. Like a movie packed with all the stars you could ever want, without a good story or the right chemistry, it’s just a wasted opportunity to elevate any genre. In this case, a televised golf match between our two most iconic players.

I was at the initial match, and it was a once in a lifetime experience to be able to attend. I can’t lie, I’ll never forget being there. We were all in awe of being so close to Tiger and Phil. Shadow Creek did an unbelievable job of creating a once in a lifetime VIP experience for the attendees, but my god was the match itself a snore-fest.

The issue is personalities, Phil is made for this setting, and Tiger is not. Even if they are buddies now and the tension is gone, they just have completely different social styles. One lends itself to winning 900 times and the other lends itself to fun. Take Arnie and Jack, if both guys are in a bar telling stories, who is gonna have the most engaged crowd? Pretty obvious.

It was apparent early on that Phil wanted to engage in banter, fun, smack talk, etc. Tiger, on the other hand, wanted to win. Hence the problem. That is Tiger, its competition against his lifetime rival. He can’t separate the two. And let’s be honest, he’s not the most engaging public speaker, that’s not why we love him.

Unfortunately for these to work, Tiger has to become something he’s not, basically he needs to become more like Phil. That’ll never happen no matter how much we pray. It’s like a ghost hunter show where you never see the ghost. We keep watching because we hope we will eventually see one but we never do. The promoters were selling (and we were hoping for) a show where we did finally see the ghost, in all its glory. An elevated viewer experience. Something big and new. Get my point?

Now we add two more humans to the mix to make it “interesting.” The problem is, they brought in two legendary quarterbacks (with personalities like TW) who obviously are giants in sport but not the funniest people to hear conversate. Peyton Mannings commercials are funny because he’s dry—that’s not fun on a live telecast. If you need partners, why not get Samuel L. Jackson and Justin Timberlake? Find people that are quick-witted and will add comedy. Hell, bring in Joe Pesci! You get my point.

This is where the mistakes are being made: there is no thought beyond who will bring all the eyeballs. Did they not hear the criticism from round 1? The event has to be watchable, engaging, fun, and give us something we have never seen. This is not that. These are failed attempts at a skins game with no skins.

Now that this one is down the river, I implore anyone who is putting this together to heed my suggestions.

1. Get Fred Couples to MC it on course. Both players adore him and he can get TW out of his Tiger shell. One of the few that can do it.
2. Let Freddy call out all bets. Unencumbered. If Team Tiger has a 60 footer for birdie, Fred will “walk him” on Phil’s behalf. If Tiger 3 whacks he pays, if he two putts Phil pays, if TW makes Phil pays double.  Just an example. In a perfect scenario, there are bets on every shot.
3. Put speakers all over the Golf Course. So the on course audience can hear everything. Not just the pay per viewers. It’ll feel like a sitcom and that’s a good thing.
4. Play with the format! Make each hole its own thing. Let the creative ideas begin.
5. They are playing for their own dough. Yes, we wanna see checkbooks break out at the end. The winning team takes 1/2 of their winnings and gives it to charity.

Keep in mind that I’m Tiger Woods’ No. 1 fan. He’s my god. But these events under current creative rule don’t work on any level beyond watching Tiger and Phil stroll around a nice golf course, and no amount of NFL Hall of Famers can fix any of that.