They were the two great players of their generation who had numerous battles over the years - but who out of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson hit the ball further?
Woods more often than not got the upper hand on his old sparring partner as he picked up 15 Majors, with Mickelson winning six of golf's biggest prizes.
Both men have shown admirable longevity, with Woods winning that 15th Major in astonishing fashion by capturing the 2019 Masters, while Mickelson became the oldest Major winner in history by lifting the 2021 PGA Championship.
But who is the bigger hitter?
Woods v Mickelson driving distances
It's probably a bit of a surprise to see that neither Mickelson or Woods has ever topped the PGA Tour driving distance charts even though both have been known for big hitting.
You have to factor in equipment and technology changes for both men as they've been playing for so long, but when you look at how far Tiger Woods has hit the ball during his career on the PGA Tour there's no huge trend, but technology has negated his advancing years to keep him up and around the 300-yard mark.
Woods' best season came back in 2005 when he averaged 316.1 yards off the tee - the second of four straight years averaging over 300 yards and one of six overall.
That beats Mickelson's best ever season of 306.3 yards in 2019, although Lefty managed nine seasons with an average of over 300 yards - with five of those coming in his last eight full years on the PGA Tour.
There's not much between the two as you'd expect, and while Woods takes it on the longest season Mickelson has been a bit more consistent in terms of getting over that 300-yard mark.
Tiger Woods driving distance stats
- 1997: 294.8 (2nd)
- 1998: 296.3 (2nd)
- 1999: 293.1 (3rd)
- 2000: 298.0 (2nd)
- 2001: 296.6 (3rd)
- 2002: 293.3 (6th)
- 2003: 299.5 (11th)
- 2004: 301.9 (9th)
- 2005: 316.1 (2nd)
- 2006: 306.4 (6th)
- 2007: 302.4 (12th)
- 2008: 294.3 (not known)
- 2009: 298.4 (21st)
- 2010: 295.8 (not known)
- 2011: 293.7 (not known)
- 2012: 297.4 (32nd)
- 2013: 293.2 (49th)
- 2014: 294.9 (not known)
- 2015: 300.2 (not known)
- 2017: 299.3 (not known)
- 2018: 303.6 (32nd)
- 2019: 296.8 (not known)
- 2021: 290.3 (not known)
Phil Mickelson driving distance stats
- 2000: 288.7 yards (3rd)
- 2001: 293.9 yards (6th)
- 2002: 288.8 yards (25th)
- 2003: 306.0 yards (3rd)
- 2004: 295.4 yards (30th)
- 2005: 300.0 yards (26th)
- 2006: 300.7 yards (17th)
- 2007: 298.1 yards (29th)
- 2008: 295.7 yards (35th)
- 2009: 300.1 yards (13th)
- 2010: 299.1 yards (13th)
- 2011 299.8 yards (22nd)
- 2012: 294.4 yards (53rd)
- 2013: 287.9 yards (93rd)
- 2014: 292.4 yards (70th)
- 2015: 300.5 yards (22nd)
- 2016: 294.8 yards (56th)
- 2017: 293.5 yards (89th)
- 2018: 300.3 yards (57th)
- 2019: 306.3 yards (19th)
- 2020: 301.5 yards (59th)
- 2021: 301.8 yards (54th)
- 2023: 299.6 (28th in LIV Golf League)
Woods v Mickelson longest drives
The latter stages of Mickelson's PGA Tour career became known for his growing calves and his pursuit of "hitting bombs" off the tee, but Tiger can also give it a crack, and there aren't many that can match his monster 498-yard effort at the Mercedes Championship in January 2002.
It’s worth noting that this bomb came on the 18th of the Plantation Course in Hawaii, a hole that features a large downslope. Find that slope, which he did, and players can get a lot of run.
For context, Woods was one of 19 players to hit the ball over 450 yards on that hole during the tournament that week. Still, it goes down as his longest ever drive on the PGA Tour.
Mickelson is not a million miles away and while Woods got help from the slope, he got a huge helping hand from a cart path at the 17th hole in the 2013 WGC-Cadillac Championship.
His drive took a big first bounce off the path and ended up right down by the green 450 yards away from the tee box, still a few yards short of Woods though.
