Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson looking forward to PLAYERS pairing

Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson have had their careers connected for more than 20 years. Today, they’re as friendly as they’ve ever been, but that hasn’t stopped them from trading some playful barbs ahead of their pairing at THE PLAYERS Championship.

It’s not quite lions and tigers and bears, but it might feel like that in the gallery Thursday afternoon at THE PLAYERS Championship, when Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Rickie Fowler tee it up together.

Woods and Mickelson have been portrayed often by those who want to make them into bitter enemies. It’s not that way.

"“It’s fun for — it’s fun for me to be able to have an opportunity to play with Phil the first two days. We don’t really do this very often, unfortunately,” Woods said in a pre-tournament press conference. “I mean, the only time I can remember I think is the PGA and the U.S. Open in ’08. Otherwise it just doesn’t really happen. And for me to be able to play with a person I’ve gone against for over two decades, it’s a lot of fun.”"

In a surprising revelation, Woods explained that Mickelson had even offered some short game advice when Woods was struggling, when he was yipping chips.

“When I was trying to deal with the nerve in my back and trying to come back and trying to play and I wasn’t very good, he always texted me some very encouraging words, and then on top of that, when you guys all saw how I was chipping so poorly, my nerve and my back was not doing very good, and I was flinching a lot, and he offered numerous times to help me out with technique and just talk about it and philosophy,” Woods said.

Woods replied that he agreed philosophically with Mickelson but that he was physically unable to do anything about it because the shooting nerve pain. Since then, Woods has solved the pain issues with the fusion of his back. His short game is remarkably improved..

"“Phil and I have a great banter. We give each other needle. We always have,” Woods added. “But I think our relationship has certainly gotten a lot closer with me being a vice captain the last couple teams and sitting there and having very lengthy conversations with him about things, not just the pairings but just about things in general.”"

Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson competing as hard as ever, but don’t sleep on Rickie Fowler

The gauntlets have been thrown down, too.

“I love that we’re paired together. I think it’s really fun,” Mickelson said in his pre-tournament press conference.

"“We haven’t been paired together in years, and as I look at the cover of the newspaper and the pairing is on there and the excitement that’s been going on around here, it gets me thinking, why don’t we just bypass all the ancillary stuff of a tournament and just go head-to-head and just have kind of a high-stake, winner take all match. Now, I don’t know if he wants a piece of me (laughter), but I just think it would be something that would be really fun for us to do, and I think there would be a lot of interest in it if we just went straight to the final round.”"

“It’s going to be fun playing with him again,” Woods said. “It’s always been a blast, and he’s one hell of a competitor, and it’s always going to be a challenge to try and beat him.”

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Are they auditioning for a special event? Would you watch if played one? Maybe yes, and definitely yes.

Fowler has his own strategy for this must-see TV. He plans to putt out instead of waiting, because he knows people will leave the green when Woods and Mickelson have finished putting, even if it is not courteous. But he welcomes the limelight. Really, who better to be between them than the PGA Tour player who has more commercial minutes on TV than anybody?

"“I definitely think, as a fan, maybe not knowing how much time they have spent together in the past few years with kind of the Ryder Cup stuff, I think — Tiger and Phil are a bit closer than people knew beforehand,” Fowler insisted. “It’s been fun for me to see kind of behind the scenes that kind of friendship kind of come out a little bit more. Obviously very big rivals. They go head-to-head through kind of the — obviously I’d say the prime of their career. They may not be in their prime, but they’re still very relevant.”"

Next: THE PLAYERS gets major treatment from young superstars

Fowler embraces the challenge of playing with arguably the two biggest stars in golf in the last two-and-a-half-decades. And there’s only one thing he’d like better.

“They want to beat up on each other as bad as possible, and I’ll be part of that group, as well. To be out in front of those two after Friday would be nice. But, ultimately, we want that after Sunday,” he insisted.

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