HOT!! Phil Mickelson edges Tiger under the lights in extra holes at The Match

Phil Mickelson edges Tiger under the lights in extra holes at The Match
The Match is finally here. Follow this unique golf experiment with our live blog here.

The Match is a Thanksgiving weekend experiment that is ostensibly about golf. The golf shots, however, are simply a vessel for a gambling product that is supposed to serve as pure sports entertainment. There is no career-long chase for a major championship trophy or some sort of resume-building glory here. It’s a mutually beneficial experiment that will land both Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson a nice paycheck. It’s also a compelling sports entertainment experiment that will look and feel different than any kind of golf we’ve seen, starting with the fact that you’ll have to fork over $20 to pay-per-view.

Results
The Match will definitely go down as an unforgettable experiment. Neither Phil nor Tiger played their best golf, the pay-per-view technology completely tanked, the broadcast infuriated in spots, but ... the two Hall-of-Famers went 22 holes into the darkness before deciding things. In the end, it was Phil Mickelson knocking in a short birdie putt under the lights to make $9 million.

Mistakes were made and it could have been better in spots, but what you want is a close match and the margin was never more than 1-up. The two see-sawed on the back-nine, with Tiger making two birdies in a row to get his first lead on the 12th hole and then chipping in from off the green at the 17th to stay alive. It prompted a chill-inducing “Just like old times” exclamation as he walked off the hole.

That chip-in forced a tie that would last an hour. The two played 18 twice and then played this special Mickey Mouse 93-yard hole set up just in case a playoff went extra deep. The lights came on and the two teed it up on the Shadow Creek putting green to hit across water into a tight pin on what was the 18th green. On the third trip, Phil stuffed it to just a few feet to clean up the winning birdie and the $9 million.

We’ll get into the shortcomings and successes in greater detail, but the finish and the final two hours made this experiment a worthwhile endeavor.

We will live blog The Match here throughout Friday afternoon. Here are some nuts and bolts to watch for from Shadow Creek.

Scorecard
Hole 1 — Tiger and Phil halve with pars; Phil loses $200k side bet

Hole 2 — Tiger misses a bunny par putt to lose the hole, Phil leads 1-up

Hole 3 — Tiger and Phil halve with pars, Phil leads 1-up

Hole 4 — Tiger and Phil halve with birdies, Phil leads 1-up

Hole 5 — Phil blows a great birdie chance and they halve with pars, Phil leads 1-up

Hole 6 — Tiger and Phil halve with birdies, Phil leads 1-up

Hole 7 — Phil bogeys to lose the hole, All square

Hole 8 — Tiger three-putts on the par-3, Phil leads 1-up

Hole 9 — Tiger and Phil halve with pars, Phil leads 1-up

Hole 10 — Tiger and Phil halve with pars, Phil leads 1-up

Hole 11 — Tiger birdies to win the hole, All square

Hole 12 — Tiger birdies to win the hole, Tiger leads 1-up

Hole 13 — Phil birdies to win the hole, All square

Hole 14 — Tiger and Phil halve with pars, All square

Hole 15 — Phil pars to win the hole, Phil leads 1-up

Hole 16 — Tiger and Phil halve with pars, Phil leads 1-up

Hole 17 — Tiger chips in for birdie to win hole, All square

Hole 18 — Tiger and Phil halve with pars, All square

Hole 19 (Replay of 18th) — Tiger and Phil halve with pars, All square

Hole 20 (Chip off from 95 yards) — Tiger and Phil halve with pars, All square

Hole 21 (Chip off from 95 yards) — Tiger and Phil halve with pars, All square

Hole 22 (Chip off from 95 yards) — Phil makes birdie, wins 1-up

3:15 p.m. — We got off to a late start. Were they waiting for one last rush of PPV buys? Were they delaying it because of PPV technical problems like Mayweather-McGregor? Or was it all part of the plan? Either way, the endless pregame hype is done and we’re off and running.

3:20 p.m. — I received three text messages from separate friends at the exact same time saying “I am already uncomfortable.” So yeah, the small chat walking from the tee to the their tee shots on long holes may be, uh, a little forced and awkward.

3:24 p.m. — Is this part of the future of golf broadcasting? This is not exactly an impossible stat to find, but with the PGA Tour embracing and wanting to push more gambling and live-wagering, we’re going to see these stats incorporated much more.

3:25 p.m. — Phil’s birdie putt on the first hole does not break as much as he expected and the misread will cost him $200k. At the press conference on Tuesday, Phil and Tiger went and back forth and settled on that side bet to undoubtedly generate more interest ahead of the match and to give you a taste of the kind of impromptu side action that will occur. So the hole was halved but Phil lost $200k with his tap-in par.

3:28 p.m. — Here’s another example of the predictive odds and percentages they’re going to be putting on the screen throughout the match.