13 Comments

1. 

   Luke Mullin

   Nov 28, 2018 at 4:07 am

   I didn’t watch it but to me it summed up all that is wrong with the higher echelons of professional golf. Too much money, too much hype and by all accounts the golf wasn’t of the highest standard. If this is the way that televised golf is going then I won’t be signing up for it.

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2. 

   Cooper408

   Nov 27, 2018 at 2:19 pm

   The concept of this event was so on-point, but the execution was miserable. Something like this needs undercards for three primary reasons
   1. There need to be undercard matches — if for nothing else than to give us something to watch other Tiger and Phil make the 3-5 minute walk between every shot. Give us a few other pairings that golf fans might want to see, and maybe even throw a celebrity match in there with guys with low handicaps (Romo, Curry, Ray Allen, etc.), and then have an iso-can on the main match as an option for die-hards.

   2. If you’re going to mic-up the players, we don’t need them on ALL the time. I don’t need to hear Tiger gulping down his water, or Phil’s heavy breathing as he’s walking uphill, and most of it is pointless, forced banter that EJ and the crew just talked over anyway.

   3. Forget the exclusivity — PGA events are held on exclusive enough courses; there’s no need to make it even more so by holding such a big event on a course not suited for galleries of fans.

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   • 

     Cooper408

     Nov 27, 2018 at 2:20 pm

     I just realized I got off track and forgot the change my into haha. Oops.

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3. 

   Euan Hardman

   Nov 27, 2018 at 11:54 am

   From Iain Carter BBC Golf Correspondent:

   Cards on the table, I did not watch it. I had plans last Friday night and they were not going to be changed by The Match even though it carried a scary significance that stretched beyond a contest between America’s two best known golfers.

   Judging by the reaction to Phil Mickelson’s 22nd hole victory over Tiger Woods I did not miss much.

   The golf was mediocre by their standards, their much-vaunted “smack talk” was pretty dull and the destiny of the $9m (£7m) was settled by a 93-yard pitch and putt.

   But this contrived contest offered a glimpse of where professional golf is headed. The destination looks terribly tawdry and potentially downright dangerous.

   This was nothing more than a desperate attempt to make a quick buck. Never mind the $19.99 television charge, the most significant ground broken by this pay-per-view pantomime was the wager culture it promoted.

   Changing odds were constantly updated as MGM’s gambling app offered an assortment of “in-play” punts. The telecast featured betting experts effectively promoting the idea that the only way to enjoy the golf was to have some money on it.

   Timing is everything and American sport is on the threshold of a betting revolution. Golf does not want to miss out after the US Supreme Court’s decision to end a federal ban on sports punting.

   The Match was a cynical play to get the ball rolling. It is well known that Mickelson loves a bet and plays high stakes money matches with fellow pros on the Tuesdays of tournament weeks.

   Woods said “we’ll play for whatever makes him feel uncomfortable” when the idea of a winner-takes-all match was initiated at last May’s Players Championship. It would be all about the money.

   So it was perfectly in keeping when the publicity shoot last week had both players posing with millions of greenbacks piled around them. It was so tacky, so out of touch, so unfeeling for the world outside their super-rich existence.

   “When they put that photograph out of both of them caressing nine million we were left going ‘hang on a minute, this is not our sport’,” Sir Nick Faldo told BBC Radio 5 live’s Breakfast show.

   Yet those tasteless, gaudy pictures did their job; they stoked interest, had people talking and got The Match trending.

   This was never going to be a worthy, legitimate sporting occasion which makes the fact that it appeared as a sanctioned event on the PGA Tour calendar hard to stomach.

   How could they let it overshadow the World Cup in Australia? Well, The Match was a cash cow, a vehicle to open golf to fledgling US gambling markets and so commanded official endorsement.

   The PGA Tour wants sports betting on its platforms. It recently announced an agreement with distributors to circulate scoring data for media usage and gambling purposes.

   There is no doubt golf lends itself to in-play betting, a type of wagering that nets huge sums for bookies. It reportedly accounted for 77% of Bet365’s revenue when the online bookmaker last week revealed an operating profit of $790 million.

   That is money largely extracted from losing punters’ pockets, many lured by uninvited tv ads instructing us to take note of changing odds and to have a wager.

   Sir Nick Faldo has been particularly critical of The Match
   For some it is a welcome bit of fun to enhance our viewing, for others it is a dangerous assault on impressionable minds that can lead to a lifetime of misery.

   Either way, this is the world that has caught the eye of professional golf and it wants its share.

   There is already gambling on golf but it is now headed to another level. So far the sport has been spared a betting scandal but it needs to be wary of the way integrity easily disappears when betting becomes a central part of proceedings.

   It would be naive to think otherwise, especially if we are headed down the “exhibition” route of The Match.

   Many have wondered whether Mickelson and Woods privately decided to split the $9m so both were guaranteed a big pay day regardless of the result. There is no evidence to suggest this, but cynics still ask the question.

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4. 

   AJ

   Nov 27, 2018 at 1:40 am

   Well it might have made up a little bit for all the runner ups at US Opens for Phil. A tiny bit.

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5. 

   jgpl001

   Nov 26, 2018 at 4:01 pm

   The 5 things to take from this were:

   1. This was a non-event
   2. Thia was a non-event
   3. This was a non-event
   4. This was a non-event
   5. This was a non-event

   Time to move on guys -YAWN

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6. 

   Tom

   Nov 26, 2018 at 3:29 pm

   Playing an 18 hole match for $9 million is an insult to the Fed Ex season bonus of $10 million based on actual season performance…this was just a circus minus the elephants and trapeze artists, although it did feature two clowns.

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7. 

   Tiger Noods

   Nov 26, 2018 at 3:21 pm

   The best commentary and smack talk came from Chuck and Sam. Chuck apologizing to America, saying they were witnessing crappy golf, was the highlight of the show.

   If you want a forum like this, take 8 guys, play 6 holes, best 4 strokes play match on the second 6, and then you play 2 for the last 6 for all the marbles. Let the others continue on and have whatever side-bets they want. Just a 5 mill pool. Winner gets 2 mill, second gets 0.5, and so does 3rd. 4th gets 250. Then along the way, you have closest to the pin for all contestants on all four par 3’s for 250k, longest drive, longest fairway drive, and all birdies pay 50k.

   8 guys, 8 mics, and the commentary box should be just Ernie, Chuck, and Sam. We don’t need any golf experts for the broadcast; just have someone with rules information on standby. Add Feherty for on-course if needed. That’s it. That’s your winner.

   “All Star Golf (series-number)” – just like UFC. And good gravy I would already be hyped for the first women’s version to hear the catty chit.

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8. 

   Liberty Apples

   Nov 26, 2018 at 12:10 pm

   Let’s face it. It was a bust. And a predictable one.

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9. 

   Gunter Eisenberg

   Nov 26, 2018 at 12:02 pm

   I’d pay money to see Spieth and Patrick Reed go at it on PPV. Judging from the Ryder Cup, they clearly don’t like each other and are in the prime of the careers now.

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   • 

     Roy

     Nov 26, 2018 at 2:29 pm

     May be in the prime of their careers, but had fewer W’s then Phil/Tiger last year on the PGA tour….

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10. 

    JD

    Nov 26, 2018 at 11:47 am

    The PGA ruined this event. Limiting side bets, not allowing ticket sales, filtering both golfers. They are so focused on preserving the good ole’ days of golf, that they aren’t adapting quick enough and are going to lose out on a significant amount of fans moving forward.

    There should be an all-star weekend for golf. There should be more match play seeded tournaments, like a march madness for golf. There should be more stadium holes, if not a whole stadium course. Basketball, football, baseball, hockey, all adapting to modern attention requirements for their sport… i really don’t see golf doing any of that. There mere fact that these dudes still have to wear pants in 90 degree heat because of a rule made in 1900 just shows you how off pace the PGA is.

    But hey, at-least we get to drop a ball from our knee height now. That’s the evolution we’ve been waiting for!

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11. 

    leezer99

    Nov 26, 2018 at 10:55 am

    You know what was even more boring than the actual event? The incessant coverage after the fact of how it could have been better.

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