On Friday, November 23, with $9 million in prize money on the line, Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods will square off one-on-one at the event dubbed the Showdown at Shadow Creek, set to take place at the Shadow Creek Golf Course in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The event will be a standard 18-hole matchup and will cost viewers $19.99. There are certain gimmicks in the matchup, such as which golfer has the longest drive and who can hit closest to the pin. The match itself is garnering a ton of attention within the NJ sports betting community.
The current odds for this matchup, according to one of the best NJ Sportsbooks FanDuel Sportsbook, Tigers Woods is a -230 favorite, which Mickelson as the +190 underdog.
Next, we’ll look at the tale of the tape of these two and compare and contrast with a prediction for who will win.
Phil vs. Tiger Tale of the Tape
Looking at head-to-head key stats, Woods has the edge in almost every category despite his career going downhill in 2008 after all of his personal issues unfolded.
– Career Wins: Woods (79), Mickelson (43)
– Majors: Woods (14), Mickelson (5)
– Last win: Woods (2018), Mickelson (2018)
– Top-10 finishes: Woods (189), Mickelson (193)
– Top-3 finishes in majors: Woods (24), Mickelson (23)
– World Ranking: Woods (67), Mickelson (20)
Tiger vs. Phil 2018 Season Stats
Average score: Woods (69.77), Mickelson (69.88)
In all, Mickelson and Woods have been paired up nearly 40 times in their careers, with the first coming back in 1997 where they both shot a 72 at the NEC World Series of Golf. Woods won 10 of his first 18 head-to-head matchups with Mickelson and holds a lifetime record of 18-15-4.
Prior to Mickelson’s 2018 win, it had been five years since Mickelson won a tournament. For the 2017-2018 season, Woods has seven top-10 finishes along with 12 top-25’s, whereas Mickelson has finished inside the top 25 just one time, outside of his win earlier in 2018.
Tiger vs. Phil Prediction
Right now, Woods is just playing a much better game of golf. He has plenty of better finishes, whereas Mickelson has seen a fair amount of cuts this year. Woods just seems like the intelligent play here, which is not saying much since he is a -230 moneyline favorite.
Mickelson got his win in 2018, but other than that, he’s been a fairly mediocre golfer. However, the name appeal of Woods and Mickelson will entice people to watch this match. The timing seems to be perfect. The day after Thanksgiving where the majority of the country is off from work and dead tired from eating too much turkey.
Either way, this will be entertaining for fans. Both the players and the caddies will be mic’d up, so listening to the banter between Woods and Mickelson could be just as entertaining as the actual match itself.
Prediction: Woods wins by three strokes.
