TIGER WOODS and Phil Mickelson are poised for a £2million winner-takes-all shootout with the victor likely to donate his jackpot to charity.
Pay-per-view TV executives jumped on the idea after it was floated by Mickelson before the long-time rivals teed off together in the opening two rounds of the Players Championship.
Mickelson said he would be delighted to oblige if “Tiger wanted a piece of me in a high-stakes match”.
Woods replied by saying he would play for any sum that made Lefty feel “uncomfortable”.
Donating the proceeds to charity will eliminate the discomfort factor and both men would probably receive big appearance fees as well.
The full details of their head-to-head battle have not been thrashed out.
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But TV insiders say it is likely to take place in America, after the Ryder Cup, which ends on September 30.
Their 36-hole scrap at Sawgrass proved a big disappointment.
Mickelson, 47, missed the cut by miles after finishing on eight over par — even though he carded a much improved one-over-par 73 yesterday.
While Woods, 42, was sweating on his chance of scraping through to the weekend on one under after a 71.
The ‘Super Group’ also featured Rickie Fowler who struggled to live up to his big reputation.
Fowler, the 2016 Players champion, started on the 10th, but stumbled from three under to one over after back-to-back double bogeys on the front nine.
His troubles started when his ball got stuck up a towering palm tree on the par-four sixth hole. He had to use binoculars to identify it, before taking a penalty drop on his way to an ugly six.
To cap that, he then found water off the tee at the next hole.
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But the dire standard of play did not stop huge armies of fans falling over themselves to catch a glimpse of the two golfing legends.
They also generated huge TV audiences, and it would be no different for a straight shootout over 18 holes.
Woods has previously faced Rory McIlroy, Sergio Garcia and David Duval in similar duels.
And between 2003-2005 he and Mickelson took part in a series of four-man TV matches also featuring the likes of John Daly and Ernie Els.
But Woods and Mickelson have never squared off away from tournaments — although they were at loggerheads when they formed a disastrous duo at the 2004 Ryder Cup, losing both their matches!
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The real super group, at least in terms of scoring, proved to be the one featuring Jason Day, Sergio Garcia, and Henrik Stenson.
They finished a combined 21 under, with Day — hot off his win at Quail Hollow — taking the honours on eight under after a 67, a shot ahead of Garcia, who carded a 69.
Stenson, the 2009 champ here, staged a remarkable fightback after taking an EIGHT on his second hole — the par-five 11th — where he put his third shot in the water.
He played the next 16 in five under par to repair the damage.
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