Five of the biggest disappointments and Five positives from “The Match”

3. The giant $9 million dollar purse

The pot of $9 million for one match is by far the most for any golf tournament of all-time and that is one of the main factors that made this an interesting thing to watch. Before the days of Tiger Woods there was never any golf tournament where the winner would take home a nine figure prize, but now it seems like every tournament gives the winner that big of a pay day. Even Phil noted in the pregame build up how much Tiger has meant to the game of golf and bringing up the prize money to what it is today.

Mickelson has his own personal jet and he is not hurting for cash by any means. For comparison, Tiger has accumulated more than a $1 billion from sponsors and prize money during his golf career. So it was enjoyable to see Phil take home the $9 million dollar purse and at least win one thing over Tiger in their careers.

It is unlikely that we will see another event that has this amount of money flying around especially the grand prize. But with these guys setting the tone and making it possible for a pot to get that big for a golf tournament, they have opened the door for future golfers to continue to rake in the major dough for tournaments down the road.