It was left to Charles Barkley, who arguably has the worst golf swing ever seen in a televised event, to utter the defining words on the ill-fated, $9 million match between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson last week in Las Vegas.

“This is some crappy golf,” opined Barkley, a member of the announcing team, as the combatants continued to produce one forgettable shot after another at spectacular Shadow Creek.

Mickelson, as you no doubt know by now, won the $9 million payoff with a birdie on a rigged-up, 93-yard fourth playoff hole. He also won three of four challenge bets, meaning Woods had to fork over $600,000 to Phil’s designated charities.

There was, however, little to flaunt from golf’s first venture into a boxing-type promotion.

From technical problems with the $19.95 pay-per-view delivery, resulting in lots of refunds, to too few nuggets from the miked-up players, to golf that didn’t deliver, “The Match” was pretty much a flop. Critics who knocked the idea from its inception have had a field day.

My biggest disappointment was that Tiger looked ill prepared. He played about like he did in the Ryder Cup, which opened the door to speculation that he hasn’t put in much work on his game since the failure in France.

He did, however, author the only real highlight, chipping in for birdie on the 17th hole to seemingly once again pull the rug from under his long-time whipping boy. Mickelson was looking at a 10-foot birdie to slam the door but wound up losing the hole.

Despite “The Match” pretty much being a flop, don’t bet there won’t be a “Match 2.” It will likely be in a different format, probably featuring Tiger and some of the tour’s young guns. My guess would be two-man teams, with say Tiger and Justin Thomas taking on Dustin Johnson and Rickie Fowler.

Much will likely depend on Woods buying in, and he might not. He doesn’t need the money and would have to be convinced he’s doing the game and other golfers a favor.

Without him, pay-per-view golf is going to be a tough sell. With him, if his game returns to the form it displayed late in the regular PGA Tour season, there is always going to be a market, especially when lots of betting is involved.

A Las Vegas backdrop, the day after Thanksgiving and Shadow Creek offer some serious bargaining chips for golf, which desperately needs to appeal more to the masses, to cash in big. Now, it’s just a matter of figuring out the right way to do it.

CHIP SHOTS

Price Youngs authored the shot of the week at Babe Zaharias, sinking a 7-iron from 130 yards on the seventh hole for his second ever hole in one. Witnesses were Tom LeTourneau, Rick Pritchett and Jerry Watson.

Youngs’ ace help his team fininsh minus 4 and win the front nine in the Friday 2-ball. On the back, the foursome of James Shipley, Kaycee Begaman, Lee Bertrand and Buddy Hicks won with minus 2 …

In the Saturday 2-ball at Zaharias, there was a two-way tie on the front.

Posting minus-2 was the team of Bim Morrow, Cap Hollier, Troy Touchet and Don Duplan and the foursome of Begaman, Ed Holley, Charles Leard and Pete Reobroi.

Winning the back with minus-1 was the team of Shipley, Gary Fontenot, Larry Foster and Cole Lee …

The Wednesday DogFight at Zaharias was won with 12 points by the team of Kenny Robbins, Joe Gongora, Hollier and John Ramsey. Closest to the pin winners were Larry Johnson (No. 2), Holley (No. 7) and Gongoara (No. 12) …

For those who need a PGA fix this weekend, Golf Channel and NBC are airing Tiger Woods’ 20th Hero World Challenge from the Bahamas. It’s the most serious of the non-official events, since it awards OWGR and FedEx Cup points and boasts 15 of the world’s top 18 ranked players.

Headlining the field are Woods, Justin Thomas, Rickie Fowler, Dustin Johnson and Justin Rose. Golf Channel TV times are 12:30-3:30 Thursday and Friday, 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m-noon Sunday. NBC follows up Golf Channel coverage Saturday and Sunday.

One would expect Woods to take a lot of grief from other players, and from new NBC golf analyst Paul Azinger, over “The Match”and how it played out.

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