Phil Finally Gets Bragging Rights

In case you didn't hear, The Match went off as planned... and it took 22 holes for Phil to finally get bragging rights over Tiger. And they played the last three holes under lights because it got too dark to play the regular course.



Believe it or not, After Tiger hit a poor chip on the 21st hole, Phil conceded a 5-foot putt -- on a hole he would likely have won -- because he said he didn't want to win that way. And then he beat Tiger on the next hole.

CBS quoted Phil after the match was over:

"A day like today is not going to take anything away from [Tiger's] greatness. He's the greatest of all time. But to have just a little bit of smack talk for the coming years means a lot to me because I really don't have much on him. He always drops the big picture, and it's the trump card. But to have a day like today, I never thought we'd go to this extra hole. My heart just can't take much more of it."

Personally, my favorite quote came from Phil after Tiger chipped in from the back of 17 to tie the match:

"You've been doing that crap to me for 20 years, I'm not sure why I'd be surprised now."

There will be some debate over how good the golf was, how there was some trouble with the pay-per-view coverage, and so on. From what I can see, the match was actually pretty tight and the two men didn't play badly at all.

But I think there are two things we can take from this:

• $9mil is a lot of smack talk for Phil to cherish.
• And Tiger is eventually gonna want a rematch.