Phil and Sergio pocket £737,000 jackpot

14 April 2012

Phil Mickelson and Sergio Garcia shared prize-money of £737,000 for a single round of golf - more than Ben Curtis received for winning The Open this month.

The pair beat the world's top ranked players, Tiger Woods and Ernie Els, 3 & 1 in a US made-for-television event last night.

Together they received £37,000 more than rookie Curtis won for lifting the Claret Jug at Royal St George's.

Woods and Els pocketed £150,000 each for their efforts at the Bridges course at Rancho Santa Fe near San Diego.

All four players were on top of their game, halving seven straight holes on the back nine as American Mickelson and Garcia, of Spain, who never trailed, clung to a one-up lead.

When the sun dropped behind the foothills and the lights came on, Garcia and Mickelson shone. Both hit their second shots over the water to the 571-yard 16th.

"Sergio hit two great shots on 16 and made a beautiful putt," Woods said. "They both played really solid. They put a lot of pressure on us. Ernie and I didn't quite get it done."

South African Els hit his approach into the water, while Woods caught a bunker left of the green. Garcia, who had missed several birdie putts that could have given his team a big lead, finally holed a 30-foot putt at the 16th.

That put them two-up, and they closed out Woods and Els on the 17th hole when the No1 and No2 players in the world failed to come close to a birdie.

It was only the second time Woods has lost since the exhibitions started in 1999, both times to Garcia. "It would have been exciting if Tiger and Ernie had holed some putts on the back," Garcia said.

Mickelson added: "Sergio and I haven't been playing to our level of expectations. But on any given day, anyone can win. And we happened to beat the best two players in the world."

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