As great as a 22-hole made for TV classic between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson would seem on paper, it wasn’t so great in its entirety. While there was great moments — like Woods chipping in to even the match on 17 — there were plenty of bad moments, too. Here’s a round up of the worst moments from The Match.
1. The Price!
This was always an issue with golf diehards and general sports fans alike. However, paying the $19.99 fee didn’t automatically bring up a smooth-running feed. The stream refused to function early on, for some reason, and Bleacher Report/Turner scrapped the fee and distributed the event for free online.
2. The golf!
Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson didn’t really play well. Woods missed a short putt (a near-gimme, really) on the 2nd hole to go one down early, which was foreboding for the rest of his day.
whoops! pic.twitter.com/XqNg18wFTs
— Dylan Dethier (@dylan_dethier) November 23, 2018
Woods struggled on Shadow Creek’s greens, never making a putt longer than 10 feet. That was most apparent on the final hole of the day, when Woods left an 8-foot putt short and right of the hole.
With Woods struggling, Mickelson never put the heat on him. He probably should’ve been up multiple holes on the front nine, but missed birdie opportunities, and soon enough he trailed one down on the 13th tee.
3. Broadcasting mics — less is more!
The move to mic up Woods and Mickelson was a winner. The problem? Too many others also wore a mic. Some of those were good — Pat Perez’s knack for blunt analysis was refreshing — but at times the many microphones distracted from the Woods/Micklelson dialogue.
Also can the 17 announcers please stop talking over the Tiger-Phil chitchat? Ya know, the two people we wanna hear from https://t.co/wEZ4x7oltb
— Brian Wacker (@brianwacker1) November 23, 2018
4. Capital One in your face!
Generally, pay-per-view means commercial-free, but in this case title sponsor Capital One had plenty of ad-like placements, between being thanked by broadcasters like Charles Barkley and Samuel L. Jackson as well as having mock commercials teased throughout the broadcast. There were many 30-second disruptions we didn’t ask for. 
