“He understands who has more wins”- When Tiger Woods explained his stance on his healthy rivalry with Phil Mickelson

The rivalry between American professional golfers Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson has been one of the biggest talking points of the sport. For the last decade or so, both golfers went up against each other on multiple occasions and dominated the sport of golf.

While a lot has been written about their rivalry by fans and experts, Tiger Woods once gave his take regarding his rivalry with Phil Mickelson. During an appearance on “Inside the NBA” in November of 2018, Woods talked about competing against Mickelson and said:

“That’s just part of the deal. I have enjoyed competing and playing against him. We’ve been doing it for 20-plus years. But I’ve really enjoyed it. And I think that there will certainly be some time talking involved and some snide comments and trying to get in one of his head. But the end of the day, he understands who has more wins,” Woods said (at 4:51).

 

While official stats suggest Woods got the better of Phil Mickelson in head-to-head competitions, one of the most iconic moments for Mickelson came when he registered a victory against the 15-time Major winner in their golf challenge, “The Match”, which was held in 2018.

Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson cared the most about the Ryder Cup according to Keegan Bradley

Tiger Woods during Round 2 of The Open Championship at the Royal Troon Golf Club [Image via IMAGN]

The Ryder Cup is one of the most looked-forward-to events in professional golf. Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson have participated in the Ryder Cup on multiple occasions. While Woods won the competition once during eight appearances, Mickelson won three out of his 12 appearances. 

Recently, after Keegan Bradley was announced as Team USA’s captain for the 2025 Ryder Cup, he appeared on the Fore Play podcast and discussed various topics related to the Ryder Cup. Bradley said contrary to the belief, Woods and Mickelson care about the Ryder Cup the most.

Keegan Bradley said:

“Americans always get this, that they don’t care about… you know, that they don’t care as much, and it’s such BS, like, when I was on these teams, I had always heard that Phil [Mickelson] and Tiger [Woods] you know, that they don’t care about the Ryder Cup. “I have never seen two people in all of my years on any teams, care about the Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup more than Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods, especially Tiger.” [44:24 – 44:46]

 

As per Bob Harig, Mickelson spoke about his brief interaction with Tiger Woods at the recently concluded Open Championship, in what is believed to be the first interaction between the two golfers in years.