Though it can probably be attributed at least partially to the fact that COVID-19 has rendered the earth into a sports-less hellhole, this past Sunday's The Match: Champions for Charity—in which Phil Mickelson and Tom Brady played golf against Tiger Woods and Peyton Manning—was actually pretty entertaining. Go figure.
It also got great ratings, reportedly pulling in enough viewers to make it the most-watched cable broadcast in the history of the sport, with about 5.8 million people tuning in.
Riding high off that momentum, Mickelson has already talked about The Match as an annual event in which he and Tiger continue to pair up with big celebrities.
MJ and Steph Curry on the same team. 👀
Phil Mickelson hinted that could be next for "The Match": https://t.co/lIayBaztSu pic.twitter.com/6r3lVrvVz0
As for who could match the star power of Brady and Manning? Well, Mickelson floated some ideas. According to reports, he has his hopes set on getting guys like Michael Jordan, Stephen Curry (or ideally both) to hit the links with him and Woods in 2021. If that doesn't work, he also thinks Pat Mahomes and Tony Romo could do well in the format. And if that doesn't work, maybe some comic legends would be the route to go.
Guess it's dependent on who says yes, but here he is saying that exact same thing because sometimes setting up quotes doesn't always turn out exactly how you want.
“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," Mickelson said to the L.A. Timesafter this past weekend.
"Those personalities are going to come out with this event. Or you could have someone who loves the game and is competitive but is really entertaining like Larry David and Bill Murray. I think that could shine.”
Both Woods and Mickelson originally agreed to partake in three events when the original idea pitting them against one another was implemented. Though this year's scheduling got screwed up by COVID-19 (the event was originally supposed to be held on June 2), the intent at the moment would be to hold these events on or around the day after Thanksgiving.
"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,” Mickelson added. “They were humanized with their golf game yet they were competitive and they were funny and entertaining. They let their sense of humor 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?”
The Times story linked above notes that Curry was originally the athlete sought to join Tiger and take on Brady, but that Manning ended up getting the call, which was good because it ended up making more sense. On that same subject, it's worth noting that Curry said he wanted "in on Match 3" if and when it were to happen:
TMZ adds that Woods and the event's organizers are also down for a return. So the next move seems to be calling Curry's reps to see if he's serious.
