Phil Mickelson in disbelief after Paul Casey calls off round due to darkness

Phil Mickelson was in disbelief after Paul Casey declined to continue their final round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am on Sunday due to darkness.

Play at Pebble Beach was delayed by the weather (rain and hail), causing the golfers to tee off later in the day. Mickelson was playing brilliant golf on Sunday as he was six under through 16 holes and leading the tournament by three strokes over Casey and Scott Stallings. Lefty overcame a three-stroke deficit to Casey entering the day and was rolling with three birdies on the back nine. On the other hand, Casey bogeyed a couple of holes on the back nine and seemed inclined to stretch things out to Monday and abide by the horn that blew to signal an end to play.

Rather than finish his putt on 16, Casey said the darkness was an issue and that he preferred to mark his putt and continue playing on Monday.

2019 has barely started but this is EASILY my favorite sports moment of the year so far. Phil Mickelson wanted to finish, Paul Casey didn't want to. And. Phil. Was. LIVID. pic.twitter.com/3rlAeI7QCy

— Jed DeMuesy (@Local12Jed) February 11, 2019

“We could finish 17 and I could tee off on 18,” Mickelson was heard telling an official.

Mickelson was also seen shaking his head after the horn sounded.

Casey wanted to wait for fresh greens to finish his putt. Then he’ll have two holes left to try and overcome Phil’s lead or finish solely in second. Not sharing second is a difference of $152,000 in prize money and world ranking and FedEx points.

If Mickelson holds on for the win, he’d tie Mark O’Meara for the most wins in tournament history (5) and would tie Tiger Woods for the most PGA Tour wins (14) in California since 1960.

Tiger Woods generously concedes putt to send ‘The Match’ to playoff

Tiger Woods sure acted generously with $9 million on the line in “The Match” on Friday.

Woods conceded a putt to send his pay-per-view match with Phil Mickelson to a playoff. Woods had a made a putt from about 5-6 feet away on the 18th hole at Shadow Creek. Mickelson had a 3-4 foot putt left, but Tiger decided to pick up his opponent’s coin instead of forcing him to make the putt to remain all square.

Tiger likely did not want to win on a missed short putt by Mickelson, recognizing how anticlimactic such an ending to the hyped-up match play event would have been.

After the concession, the two headed to a 19th playoff hole where Woods again conceded a putt to keep things tied.

Tiger knew what he had to do to build the drama for the ending.

Tiger Woods makes awesome shot on 17 to tie ‘The Match’

Tiger Woods hit arguably his best shot of “The Match” on 17 Friday to win the hole and send things to the 18th in a tie.

Tiger was down a hole to Phil Mickelson in their head-to-head match and was on the edge of the green, chipping from the rough for a birdie attempt on the par 3, 150-yard hole. Tiger chipped in and nailed it.

Eldrick, DID YOU?! Tiger chips in on 17, and says after, "just like old times." #TheMatch is all square headed to 18. pic.twitter.com/uxoHwVMoUG

— Stephen Nelson (@StephenNelson) November 23, 2018

“Just like old times, buddy,” Tiger said to his caddie Joe LaCava.

Mickelson had a chance to win the match had he won the hole. Instead, he missed his birdie putt, which left things all square through 17.

What started out slowly ended with an exciting finish thanks to that big shot.

Turner offers Mickelson-Woods stream for free after technical problems

Technical difficulties meant Turner ended up giving away its pay-per-view broadcast of “The Match” for free.

Turner had been offering the exclusive live stream of the Friday charity match between Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods for $19.99 through their “B/R Live” service, and it was expected to be a big draw for the fledgling streaming platform. However, the service apparently suffered a myriad of technical difficulties, and users quickly found they could watch the match for free.

According to ESPN’s Darren Rovell, the platform had a hard time handling purchase requests, and those who had bought access to the match were struggling to get in and see it. In light of that, Turner opted to simply make the stream free.

BREAKING: Source says Turner execs decided to give Phil-Tiger match away for free on B/R Live streaming platform (instead of $20 charge) when purchase function broke down to point where those who bought had trouble getting in.

— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) November 23, 2018

It’s unclear if those who had paid the fee would be refunded. No problems for those who purchased the match through their cable provider appeared to be reported.

What was expected to be a big spectacle with two of the world’s most famous golfers has been upstaged by a skywriter, and now the fact that the paid stream ended up turning into a disaster for the provider. We’ll see what comes of that in the days ahead.

Skywriter talks trash during Tiger Woods vs Phil Mickelson match

The greatest trash talking of “The Match” between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson on Friday may have come from a skywriter.

According to Golf Channel’s “Tiger Tracker,” an overhead skywriter wrote a series of questions that took shots at the pay-per-view match between the two golfers. The questions poked fun at them over a lack of crowd, over how late after the peak of their rivalry the match is taking place, and the absence of another top golfer — Jordan Spieth.

Overhead skywriter asking an interesting assortment of hard-hitting questions:

“Where is the crowd…Tiger v Phil?”
“Is this 1999?”
“Where’s Spieth?” pic.twitter.com/d8COftzrkA

— Tiger Tracker (@GCTigerTracker) November 23, 2018

A big draw for the match was supposed to be the in-match betting and trash talk between the players. While there was some betting, the trash talk was lacking … until the skywriter made an appearance.

Dustin Johnson congratulates Brooks Koepka in painfully awkward video

Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson have done their best to downplay reports about them nearly getting into a physical altercation at the Ryder Cup, and we would rather take their word for it than be treated to another horrifically uncomfortable video like they one they put out on Tuesday.

After Koepka was voted the 2018 PGA Tour Player of the Year by his peers, the Tour shared a video on social media that featured Johnson congratulating Koepka. It began with Koepka telling Johnson, “Hey man, I don’t ever want anything to come between us.”

 @BKoepka accepted his Player of the Year Award today.

Of course @DJohnsonPGA showed up. #LiveUnderPar pic.twitter.com/4M5vYIOm8M

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 9, 2018

For those of you who don’t know the story, a report claimed Johnson and Koepka — who are considered close friends — got into an argument at a Team Europe afterparty after losing the Ryder Cup and nearly came to blows. Koepka has since denied that any such incident took place, but even Team USA captain Jim Furyk acknowledged that there was some sort of issue.

That video was likely a way for Johnson and Koepka to downplay all the drama, but boy was it awkward.

Brooks Koepka shoots down report of fight with Dustin Johnson

The reports of drama between members of the Team USA Ryder Cup team have continued to roll in over the past several days, and the most noteworthy was that Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka nearly got into a physical altercation on Sunday night. According to Koepka, that report was 100 percent fabricated.

While speaking with reporters on Wednesday, Koepka said he and Johnson did not have an argument before, during or after the Ryder Cup — let alone a near fist-fight at a Team Europe afterparty.

Speaking with reporters at the Dunhill Links, Koepka denies a fight with DJ: "This Dustin thing, I just don't get. There was no fight, no argument. He's one of my best friends. I love the kid to death. We talked on the phone Monday and yesterday, so you tell me how we fought."

— Ryan Lavner (@RyanLavnerGC) October 3, 2018

Koepka added that people like making up stories and running with them and said this is “not the first time there’s been a news story that isn’t true that’s gone out.”

Word of the alleged confrontation first popped up in The Telegraph and was later confirmed by the Golf Channel, so multiple outlets are claiming there was some sort of altercation. Johnson and Koepka are considered close friends who work out together in Florida, which made it surprising that they were not paired together in foursomes on Friday afternoon.

From the way it sounds, the drama between Johnson and Koepka was only part of what went wrong during a “devastating” week for Team USA.