The Match has come and gone, and Phil Mickelson came away with the victory on the fourth playoff hole at Shadow Creek Golf Course in Las Vegas. Lefty now gets to fly home with $9 million and a championship belt for his victory over Tiger Woods.
Not surprisingly, The Match produced many memorable quotes from Tiger, Phil, and others. Here are seven of the better one-liners:
1. “I’m going to side sauce one in from the right”: At the 9th hole with a chance to win $1 million off of Tiger if he eagled it, Phil dropped this instant classic of a line that had Twitter ablaze wondering what Phil was talking about. As Ernie Johnson said best, there are sure to be a few “side sauce” references on golf courses around the country this weekend.
2. “Tasty little morsel there”: The hits kept on coming from Phil. After his tee shot on the 16th hole, Mickelson referred to his shot as a “tasty little morsel there.” Lefty was clearly feeling it at this point, given that he was still 1-up on Tiger with three holes to play.
3. “This is some crappy golf. I could beat these two today!”: Charles Barkley has never been one to shy away from sharing his honest thoughts and opinions on certain issues. And The Match was no exception to Barkley’s ridicule on Friday afternoon, as he claimed that Tiger and Phil’s play was “some crappy golf” and that he could beat both of them today. Look for Sir Charles at The Match 2.0.
Sir Charles Barkley the best! #TheMatch pic.twitter.com/msyBoWywkH
— Geoff Shackelford (@GeoffShac) November 23, 2018
4. “I think I just willed his [putt] out”: After Tiger missed a birdie putt from inside 15 feet at the 14th hole, Phil decided to take credit for Tiger’s miss in classic showman form. “I think I just willed his [putt] out,” Lefty said as he walked to the 15th tee. Mickelson was mostly lighthearted during the hyper-competitive showdown, but both golfers had a bad day putting.
5. “I’m trying to be more talkative this back nine, but I’m not”: After both golfers hit their tee shots on the 15th hole, Tiger and Lefty walked together down the fairway. Both men were criticized by many for not interacting enough while mic’d up during The Match. But as the match got tighter, so did Phil and Tiger’s lips.
6. “That hurts the pocket.”: Finally, our first Tiger quote! After Phil failed to birdie the first hole of The Match like he predicted he would, Tiger could only smirk and smile. Why? Because $200,000 that could’ve gone to Phil was now going into Tiger. The 14-time major champion let his opponent know that his missed birdie putt was going to make his wallet a little bit lighter.
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7. “Let’s go play.”: Another classic from Tiger. On the 18th hole with $9 million on the line and The Match all square, Woods drained his birdie putt from five feet away. Then, instead of forcing Mickelson to sweat over his three-footer, Woods picked it up and off they went to a playoff hole. A rare generous moment from the typically-ruthless Woods.
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