Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson have confirmed they will stage a rematch of their 2018 head-to-head showdown in a made-for-TV event that will aid Covid-19 relief efforts.
The golf superstars will be joined by legendary National Football League quarterbacks Tom Brady and Peyton Manning in the officially-titled “The Match: Champions for Charity.”
The two-on-two event – which was revealed early this month – will take place in May and be televised by TNT. There will be additional social and digital content on WarnerMedia platforms Bleacher Report and House of Highlights.
The match-up is believed to be Woods and Manning against Mickelson and Brady.
The specific date, venue, and charitable causes will be announced in the coming weeks. According to multiple reports, the event will take place in late May in South Florida, possibly at Medalist Golf Club.
Brady now lives in Florida having recently signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He has since been joined at the NFL team by former New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski.
Tournament organizers are working with state and local government and public health officials on competition and production logistics to ensure the event follows safety and health protocols. This will include social distancing and no spectators.
The tournament also needs approval from the PGA Tour before it can go ahead as it is a non-sanctioned event.
“It’s on now,” Mickelson tweeted after the tournament was officially announced.
Woods and Mickelson squared off in a $9m winner-takes-all event at Shadow Creek Golf Club in Las Vegas in November 2018, which was won by Mickelson. “The Match” was a pay-per-view event on Turner’s B/R Live platform in the US, although technical problems meant it was essentially broadcast for free, with customers given refunds.
Even though it is an exhibition, the golf showdown will effectively be the first live sports event in the United States since the coronavirus shutdown in mid-March. As such, it is likely to gain strong TV ratings, both domestically and internationally, and provide a timely boost to the sports betting industry.
The PGA Tour, for its part, is planning to return to action in mid-June, with the initial four events in an ambitious revised schedule due to be played without spectators.
