The reviews are rolling in for The Match at Shadow Creek, and they are decidedly mixed. Now Tiger Woods is offering up his opinion on what made the event a success, as well as what went wrong with the grudge match.
Like many observers, Woods thinks the one-on-one duel with Phil Mickelson could have been more entertaining. To his credit, Tiger places most of the blame at his and Phil’s feet.
“I wish we both would have played better, but neither one of us putted well that day out there… we should’ve each played seven or eight birdies a piece,” Woods told reporters in his pre-tournament press conference Tuesday at the Hero World Challenge.
Overall, though, Woods described the experience as “positive,” while noting that there is room for improvement, “There’s some things in which we can make it better for the viewer, but I think a lot of people turned in and tried — well, tried to watch and then ended up watching.” He continued, “maybe going forward, just don’t quite have the greens so fast or the pins so difficult.”
Tiger wasn’t the only one who noticed the pair’s less-than-inspiring play on Friday in Las Vegas. Charles Barkley, who joined the broadcast for some color commentary, didn’t mince words when he gave his mid-match review.
“This is some crappy golf,” Barkley said when Tiger and Phil were on the 9th hole. “Y’all know that. I could beat these two guys today.”
Woods, of course, lost to Mickelson beneath the lights at Shadow Creek after pushing the match to 22 holes. Turner announced that they recorded 750,000 unique views on the B/R Live stream on Friday. That number does not include viewers who accessed broadcast through their cable provider.
Now Woods is back at his own invitational event in the Bahamas, which one year ago served as the true beginning of his unlikely comeback. At the time, questions about Woods’s game abounded, and he answered many of them with a stellar performance that previewed what was to come in 2018.
As far as his schedule for next season goes, Tiger said the Genesis Open in mid-February (which he hosts) and the four majors are the only tournaments “set in stone.” This week will likely be the last time we see Woods on the golf course before he starts the new season in earnest in January.
