Tiger Woods confirmed on Wednesday that he will face Phil Mickelson in a high-stakes exhibition match in Las Vegas over Thanksgiving weekend.

No other details were provided, but ESPN reported earlier this month the one-on-one showdown – dubbed simply ‘The Match – will take place on either Friday (23 November) or Saturday (24 November) at Shadow Creek Golf Course with a purse to be determined. Initial reports by Golf.com in July indicated it would be for a “winner-take-all” sum of $10m, although Mickelson referenced a purse of $9m on Wednesday.

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Woods and Mickelson, the two richest and most decorated golfers of their generation, rank first and second on the career money leaderboard (with $112.2m and $87.6m respectively), with Woods having won 14 major titles and 79 tournaments compared to five majors and 42 tour wins for Mickelson.



It will be a lucrative capper to a resurgent season for Woods, who admitted earlier Wednesday he thought he “was done” at last year’s Masters and would not play competitive golf again.

The 42-year-old, who is in New Jersey to compete in this week’s Northern Trust Pro-Am at Ridgewood Country Club, was responding to comments by Nick Faldo, who had said in a radio interview that he’d overheard Woods saying “I won’t play golf again” at the annual dinner for past champions at Augusta National in 2017.

Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) Think you will earn some bragging rights? 🏆

“At that time, I was done,” Woods said, according to ESPN. “I didn’t know what I was going to be doing. I had no golf in my future at that time. I couldn’t walk. I couldn’t sit.”

That year, Woods had attempted a comeback after sitting out all of 2016 following three back surgeries, but he stopped playing after three tournaments and had no shot to compete at Augusta. He ended up having a fourth back procedure, a spinal fusion surgery, two weeks after the Masters.

“I left from to go see a specialist about what are my options,” Woods said.

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“At the time, I needed to try and get rid of the pain. It wasn’t so much about golf. I tried everything. I tried stem cell; I tried Lidocaine; I tried Marcaine, nerve block. Nothing took the pain away.”

After six months without being allowed to swing a club, Woods slowly worked his way back to the point of competing regularly. He’s now headed into what should be his busiest stretch in the last nine years, with his likely appearance in seven events over the next nine weeks starting with the Northern Trust, which begins Thursday.

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Despite not yet claiming a victory this year, Woods has regularly threatened, posting five top-six finishes since March, including three in his last four events. Two weekends ago at the US PGA Championship, Woods finished runner-up and captivated the crowd along the way as he charged to a final round 6-under 64, his lowest score ever in the final round of a major.

He said Wednesday that while crowds have cheered him on with similar fervor to years past, he’s felt a different sort of tenor in 2018.

“This entire year has been so different,” Woods said. “I’ve had excitement, I’ve had people into it over the years, but this has been so different.

“I guess everyone knows it: I’ve struggled, I’ve had some back pain, I’ve gone through four surgeries and I’m trying to work my way back, and it’s been tough, and people understand that.”

Asked how he would characterize the difference, Woods said, “I think that people are more appreciative.”

“I don’t want to make that sound wrong or anything,” he continued, “but they know I’m at the tail end of my career. And I don’t know how many more years I have left, but I’m certainly not like I was when I was 22. At 42, this is a different ballgame.”