By Tiger Woods’ debut in the TGL, a new high-tech indoor golf league, ended in disappointment on Tuesday, as his Jupiter Links Golf Club team was thrashed 12-1 by Los Angeles Golf Club.
Woods, who has spearheaded the new venture alongside Rory McIlroy, entered the arena to much excitement as Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger” blared out from the speakers, but the former world No. 1 failed to live up to expectations.
He was joined by Kevin Kisner and Max Homa on his team, but the trio struggled against Justin Rose, Collin Morikawa and Sahith Theegala of the Los Angeles Golf Club.
Jupiter Links quickly trailed 5-0 after just four holes and finished the first session 8-1 down.
“We were entertaining,” Woods said, laughing at the blowout loss. “We hit a lot of shots. I think the people there got to see how bad pros can be. It was just a boat race, oh my goodness. But we had a great time.”
Woods added that he was “still hurting from laughing so hard” during competition.
Despite the lack of quality on display, there was plenty to entertain the star-studded audience and the viewers watching on TV.
At one point, when Woods sent a shot into the virtual water on the second hole, his son Charlie couldn’t help laughing as he sat overlooking the virtual course.
Charlie was joined in the crowd by the likes of 23-time grand slam champion Serena Williams who co-owns the LA team.
“It’s about time, Tiger,” Williams said on the broadcast, when Woods made an eight-foot putt for par on the fifth hole.
The TGL sees six teams comprised of 24 mic’d up stars of the PGA Tour compete across a 15-match regular season at the 1,500-capacity arena in Palm Beach Gardens before the postseason begins, culminating in a best-of-three Finals Series showdown for the SoFi Cup on March 24.
Golfers on each four-player team hit tee and approach shots into a 64-by-53-foot simulator before moving to the GreenZone; a green that can be uniquely rotated and sloped on each hole thanks to a turntable and actuators under its surface.
A single match is contested over two sessions, with each match seeing three players from each team going head-to-head over 15 specially designed holes and two different formats – nine holes of triples and six holes of singles.
Triples sees the three players on a team rotate who hits shots as well as taking turns to tee off. The singles format has players matched directly with an opponent, with each player on the team of three playing two singles holes.
Each hole is worth one point, a tied hole is worth no points and the team with the most points at the end of the match wins. If the scores are level after 15 holes, a closest to the pin competition will decide the winner.
