Tiger Woods helped found the TGL but whilst playing against Rory McIlroy the American was punished for breaking a rule on the green that is unique to the simulator
Tiger Woods has become the first player in the history of the TGL to be undone by a shot-clock violation.
The TGL – short for Tomorrow’s Golf League – has recently been created with Woods among the founders, however he’s been caught out by one of the rules that he’d never be pinned for on an actual golf course. The golf-sim brings with it new challenges and upping the pace is certainly one.
Woods was lining up his eight-foot putt on the high-tech green at the SoFi Center, but was eventually called out for the amount of time he took. He was about to use his putter before his allotted 40 seconds expired and the buzzer sounded.
That saw him hit with a one-stroke penalty and meant he couldn’t match the birdie posted by Rory McIlroy, who was playing for Boston Common GC against Woods’ Jupiter Links GC outfit.
Whilst the match-up is largely all fun and games Woods cut a frustrated figure as he walked off the green after being hit with a penalty. However he would ultimately have the last laugh against the team of McIlroy, Adam Scott, and Keegan Bradley.
Scott, winner of the Masters back in 2013, holed a 31-foot birdie putt to win the 14th hole for Boston which levelled the match. But Tom Kim and Kevin Kisner won their nearest-the-pin shootouts to clinch victory for Jupiter Links after the teams had finished the regulation 15 holes tied at 3-3.
Woods said on the experience: “It is so different to normal golf. It was definitely different than when we first played. This is what we had envisioned for TGL, to have an experience like this, and I think we delivered. It couldn’t have been a more pleasurable display of golf, banter. Everyone in the audience was engaged. Hopefully all the viewership were engaged. We as players loved it.”
The 15-time Major winner ultimately prevailed on the night
McIlroy was overjoyed by the experience and was thrilled that the new golf simulation event has attracted a younger audience.
He said: “I’ve shared the course with him many times, and I’ve been in a couple of final groups with him, and he has just as much intensity out there tonight as he does when he’s trying to win a major championship or trying to finish.
“It’s been really cool to hear that a younger demographic, it’s sort of resonated with them. One of the visions when we started was to try to engage that younger demographic and give them a bite-sized version of golf that they could get into and understand, and hopefully we’ve done that.”
