PARAMUS, N.J. -- Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson took to Twitter on Wednesday afternoon to announce their much-discussed winner-take-all match was on for Thanksgiving weekend.
Not all of the details have emerged, but Turner Sports is producing the pay-per-view telecast that will offer $9 million to the winner and be played Friday, Nov. 23 at Shadow Creek Golf Course in Las Vegas.
I bet you think this is the easiest $9M you will ever make
"It's an opportunity for us to bring golf to the masses in prime time during a period where we don't have much going on in the world of golf," Mickelson said Wednesday after his pro-am round at Ridgewood Country Club, where he is playing in the Northern Trust that begins Thursday.
"It's a way to show a side you don't normally see by having us mic'd up to hear some of the interaction between us."
Mickelson said the format would be match play, and details are being worked out that would allow for various challenges during the match: longest drive, closest to the hole, longest putt, closest out of a bunker, etc.
The event will be televised on pay-per-view by Turner's B/R Live platform, in addition to DirecTV and AT&T U-verse. Pricing has not been set.
As if it would truly be winner-take-all, Mickelson said: "I think if you [don't] do that, it undermines it. The whole point is the winner take-all-thing. That's the exciting part about it."
The 48-year-old Mickelson and the 42-year-old Woods have long been adversaries who have seen their relationship mellow in recent years. They've played practice rounds together this year at the Masters and the WGC-Bridgestone were grouped together during the first two rounds of the Players Championship, and have worked together behind the scenes as part of the U.S. Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup efforts.
After their Twitter back and forth, Mickelson caught himself.
"We have plenty of time to do that, and I've got to be careful because I'm hoping we are teammates in the Ryder Cup and I don't want to cause a stir yet," Mickelson said. "But in the first week of October, it will start to heat up."
Although a time was not announced, Mickelson said he hoped for a prime-time finish in the East and perhaps even playing the final few holes in Las Vegas under the lights.
He said a decision had to be made on whether to let in a lot of spectators or keep it very small. And while it was reported that the initial winner-take-all-fee would be $10 million, Mickelson said the PGA Tour had a role in having it reduced, ostensibly because it pays $10 million to the winner of the FedEx Cup playoffs.
Because Mickelson and Woods are PGA Tour members, their television rights are owned by the PGA Tour, hence the tour's role in negotiations.
Woods, who first tweeted about the match Wednesday, was not available for comment, nor was his agent, Mark Steinberg.
"With only two guys, we should have a totally different experience with fans, because we will have smaller galleries that won't necessarily have ropes that can walk inside the fairway and up near the greens," Mickelson said. "We'll have mikes on both us and our caddies and you'll be able to hear all of the banter as well as commentating that will be more interactive.
"The idea is not just to have this great match but to have this interactive experience so fans can see something that they've never seen in televised golf before."
By Bob Harig ESPN Senior Writer
By Bob Harig ESPN Senior Writer
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