Tiger Woods certainly saw the funny side as his TGL team were completely obliterated on Tuesday night.
The 15-time major winner made his highly-anticipated debut in the indoor simulator league – which he founded alongside Rory McIlroy and sports executive Mike McCarley.
Competing for Jupiter Golf Links, Woods raised hope of an electric performance by walking out to ‘Return of the Mac’ and dropping the hammer on his opening tee shot, which was striped down the virtual fairway.
However, the recovering 49-year-old would find himself on the end of a total hiding, losing 12-1 to Los Angeles Golf Club – represented by Justin Rose, Collin Morikawa and Sahith Theegala.
Playing alongside Kevin Kisner and Max Homa, Woods’ team bordered on ridiculous at times, hitting reckless shots and even losing track of their score.
The night peaked when Kisner, who now spends more time broadcasting than playing at the elite level, knifed a bunker shot into the pin, putting the 1,500-strong crowd at the SoFi centre on red alert.
Homa ducked for cover, Woods was almost crying with laughter – and it became even funnier when Kisner almost holed the chip shot coming back.
“We honestly didn’t think that anyone could get hit in here,” Woods said.
“That was honestly one of the funniest things I’ve seen. And then the chip shot, the next one, should have gone in.
“It was just one of those weird nights.”
At one point, Kisner turned to Woods’ son Charlie in the crowd and asked if the 15-year-old prodigy wanted to replace him, as Homa speculated whether they could be relegated.
After a similar hammering for New York Golf Club on the opening night, the competitive element of TGL is still lacking.
Fans continue to enjoy it as a made-for-TV entertainment product, and Kisner’s misery was all part of the fun.
However, many are still dumbfounded by the Jupiter Golf Links roster, especially given Woods’ role in organising the league.
The golf icon, who recently underwent yet another surgery, competes sparingly as he continues to manage the affects of his near-fatal car accident in 2021.
Kisner missed 17 cuts in 23 PGA Tour events in 2024 – and even Homa has been questioning why he is on the team.
Three-time Tour winner Tom Kim completes their line-up, although he was on the bench for Tuesday night’s match.
One fan wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter: “Tiger creating a golf league and giving himself the worst team is giving off some major Michael Jordan GM vibes.”
What is TGL?
Simply put, TGL is an indoor simulator golf league featuring the game’s top players.
It will take place at a super high-tech arena called the SoFi Centre in Florida with a live crowd of around 1,500 people.
Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods were the ones who came up with it, with the help of a guy called Mike McCarley, as part of their TMWR Sports venture.
It’s got a bunch of big-name investors, like Serena Williams, Lewis Hamilton, and Fenway Sports Group – who own Liverpool. ESPN and Sky Sports are signed up to broadcast it.
How do they compete?
There’s six teams of four, all franchises based on US cities, and all featuring top PGA Tour players. No LIV Golfers.
There is one head-to-head match each week lasting just two hours for a primetime TV slot in the States.
There will also be a 40-second shot clock and timeouts and referees to enforce the rules. All of the players are mic’d up to ensure maximum entertainment value.
How does it work?
For shots longer than 50 yards, players will hit into this enormous screen, which is 53 foot tall and 64 foot wide.
That’s about 24 times the size of your normal golf simulator. They play off real grass, the rough and the fairways will be reflected on the surface, and it even moves to reflect the slope.
The green complex has 600 motorised sensors underneath it and 360 degree rotation to simulate the exact real life scenario facing the players.
The bunkers have the same sand as Augusta National, and they’ve even thought about the direction of the grain around the greens.
Format
Each team picks three players, they play 15 holes. The first nine holes are ‘Trebles’ – three-on-three matchplay, with each player taking turns to hit the shots.
The final six holes are ‘Singles’ – one-on-one matchplay with each player playing 2 holes.
If it’s all square after 15, they go to overtime and play closest to the pin.
Teams get two points for a regulation win, two points for an overtime win, one point for an overtime loss, and zero points for a regulation loss.
There will be Play-Offs in March with semi-finals and a final to determine the league’s overall winner – with a $21million purse to be divided among players.
Teams
Atlanta Drive GC
• Patrick Cantlay
• Lucas Glover
• Billy Horschel
• Justin Thomas
Boston Common Golf
• Keegan Bradley
• Hideki Matsuyama
• Rory McIlroy
• Adam Scott
The Bay Golf Club
• Ludvig Aberg
• Wyndham Clark
• Shane Lowry
• Min Woo Lee
Jupiter Links Golf Club
• Max Homa
• Tom Kim
• Kevin Kisner
• Tiger Woods
Los Angeles Golf Club
• Tommy Fleetwood
• Collin Morikawa
• Justin Rose
• Sahith Theegala
New York Golf Club
• Matt Fitzpatrick
• Rickie Fowler
• Xander Schauffele
• Cameron Young
