Woods gears up to beat Mickelson in charity match

MIAMI: Tiger Woods couldn’t resist a little last-minute needling before Sunday’s charity golf showdown with Phil Mickelson, with a deadpan prediction that he and partner Peyton Manning would dominate.

“At the end of the day, our team’s going to win, it’s just a matter of how much we’re going to win by,” 15-time major champion Woods said in an interview posted on Golf Digest’s YouTube channel. “Do we keep it close, do we blow them out ... we don’t want to have viewers turn off if we’re 9-up through nine, that’s probably not going to be good. So we’ll just be 8-up through nine — something like that.” Reigning Masters champion Woods will team with Manning, a superstar NFL quarterback who retired in 2016 after winning his second Super Bowl title.

Five-time major winner Mickelson will team with Tom Brady, who recently signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after winning six Super Bowl titles in 20 years with the New England Patriots. The 18-hole match will include nine holes of four-ball and nine holes of modified alternate shot, with on-course challenges for charitable funds in addition to the $10 million pledged.

With the US PGA Tour and European Tour on hiatus amid the coronavirus pandemic, the made-for-TV event will be a welcome glimpse of live sports action, and the long rivalries among the players promise a little intensity even if it’s only a battle for bragging rights. Television commentators include major winners Trevor Immelman and Jordan Spieth, along with Charles Barkley, the NBA great turned outspoken broadcaster who is the owner of a famously disjointed golf swing.