What’s the best trash talk Tiger Woods has ever dropped on Phil Mickelson?

Phil Mickelson has won five major championships – the Masters in 2004, 2006 and 2010, the PGA Championship in 2005, and the Open Championship in 2013. Tiger Woods tied for 22nd, tied for third, tied for fourth, tied for fourth and tied for sixth, respectively, those years. 

Mickelson has won 39 other tournaments during his PGA Tour career. And he won 2018’s The Match. Over Woods. 

Mickelson says he’s needled Woods over those victories a few times. He might needle him a few times more during Sunday’s The Match: Champions for Charity, a match play event featuring the team of Woods and Peyton Manning taking on the team of Mickelson and Tom Brady for charity. Mickelson is a good trash-talker, and this is good trash-talk. 

But this is better: 

Big. Picture. 

Fifteen major championships. Eighty-two PGA Tour victories. Scoreboard. Big. Picture. 

“Tiger is very subtle in his smack talk, and he has gotten me with ‘big picture,’ “ Mickelson said on a Callaway Golf podcast this week when asked about Woods’ best dig at him. “So every time I say, ‘Oh, I remember I beat you here at the Deustche Bank or I ended up beating you here at AT&T in 2012 blah, blah, blah,’ he just kind of puts his hands (up) and says, ‘Big picture.’ 

“Now he got me, and he’ll continue to get me.”     

It’s hard to argue with. 

Then Mickelson did. A trash talk of the trash talk. 

“He uses that line – he overuses that line,” Mickelson said on the podcast. “Yeah you’re the greatest player in the world, you have the best record. Of course, big picture, you know? But let’s be creative, let’s come up with something a little bit more insightful; that’s your go-to line.

“He gets me with it every time, of course, but I think he could do better too.” 

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Nick Piastowski

Golf.com Editor

Nick Piastowski is a Senior Editor at Golf.com and Golf Magazine. In his role, he is responsible for editing, writing and developing stories across the golf space. And when he’s not writing about ways to hit the golf ball farther and straighter, the Milwaukee native is probably playing the game, hitting the ball left, right and short, and drinking a cold beer to wash away his score. You can reach out to him about any of these topics — his stories, his game or his beers — at nick.piastowski@golf.com.

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