Basketball legend Michael Jordan could form a superstar partnership with Tiger Woods in the next edition of ‘The Match’, Phil Mickelson has revealed.
On Sunday, Woods teamed up with NFL icon Peyton Manning to beat Mickelson and Tom Brady in ‘The Match: Champions for Charity’, helping to raise $ 20million for the COVID-19 relief fund.
It was a significant improvement on the first version of ‘The Match’, which saw Mickelson defeat Woods in a one-on-one showdown to win $ 10m in prize money.
Sunday’s event was far more fun: the banter was hilarious, the golf was entertaining, and the cause was a worthy one.
This looks to be the right formula moving forward, and Mickelson has suggested Jordan could be among the next superstars to take part.
The NBA icon has dominated headlines in recent weeks due to the highly-acclaimed Netflix docuseries The Last Dance, which chronicles his extraordinary career with the Chicago Bulls.
Jordan’s passion for golf is a constant feature in the documentary and the 57-year-old is close friends with Woods, arguably the only other sportsman to match his level of fame in the nineties.
Looking ahead to future versions of ‘The Match’, Mickelson told the LA Times: “I think you could showcase guys like Steph Curry and Michael Jordan or Tony Romo and Patrick Mahomes, who are all good golfers, elite talents and have great personalities.
“Those personalities are going to come out with this event.”
‘The Match’ perhaps offers a glimpse into what the future of golf could look like, with players mic’ed up and pundits talking to them throughout the round.
And following the success of Sunday’s event, Mickelson suggests it could become an annual thing.
He added: “I don’t know what specifically it will look like but it would be a competition while also being entertaining and getting the right mixture of individuals to have their personalities come out the way Peyton and Tom shined in this last one.
“They were humanised with their golf game yet they were competitive and they were funny and entertaining.
“They let their sense of humour come out. It’s about finding the right mix of those competitors and I don’t think we could get two better guys than who we had in Peyton and Tom.
“Going forward that will be the challenge. How do we improve on that?”