Sitting 1-down through six holes of The Match, Tiger Woods gained a slight advantage off the tee at No. 7 and looked to double down. Standing in the fairway at the par-5, Woods was some 30 yards closer than opponent Phil Mickelson, who had sliced his tee shot just off the fairway.
Woods proposed a side bet: $200k for low score on the hole. But Mickelson, sitting in worse position, wasn’t biting. He asked for better odds, proposing 3:2 to even out the advantage. “You either take it or you don’t,” Woods said. But Phil remained mum from there, effectively nixing the bet.
As they walked up the fairway alongside each other, Tiger razzed him for turning down the bet.
“Even with your short game?” Woods asked.
Tiger wanted to bet $200K on Hole 7, but Phil wanted no part of it 😂#CapitalOnesTheMatch pic.twitter.com/jXKCwM08gS
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) November 23, 2018
“I usually will bite, even with a disadvantage,” Mickelson allowed. But in this case, he showed smart restraint. Mickelson’s approach found the bunker, and Woods made a neat two-putt birdie to get the match back to all square.
There was plenty of other action flying around, however. Mickelson missed a $200k putt on the first hole, and Woods missed a costly three-footer a hole later.
