Tiger Woods had a tough debut in his Tomorrow Golf League. His team, the Jupiter Links, received a thorough thrashing from Los Angeles GC. They lost 12 to 1. There was simply a significant difference between the two teams, as reflected in the score. Too many concessions from Tiger himself, Kevin Kisner, and Max Homa, while Collin Morikawa, Sahith Theegala, and Justin Rose were much more organised. They didn’t even need to be too brilliant, just less erratic.
The reality is that it was quite evident that neither Tiger, Kisner, nor even Homa are currently at their best golfing form. They committed too many penalties, starting at hole 2, the first they lost by sending two consecutive balls into the water, the first by Homa and the second by Tiger. From there, it was a bit of a mess. They weren’t sharp from the tee, in their approach shots, or on the greens. There was no contest.
The Jupiter team only won one of the fifteen holes in dispute, and it was because Theegala sent his tee shot into the water. Beyond that, there’s no better reflection of the match than Los Angeles sweeping through with barely a birdie all night. There were holes even won with a bogey. Morikawa’s team completed the first phase of the triple foursomes with a score of 8-1 and finished off the match in the singles, winning four more and drawing two, and that’s with Rose missing a putt of just over a metre to have won another hole against Tiger. It was on the 10th, and they tied it with a bogey. There was even a shank from Kisner out of the bunker that almost had all the players on the ground for cover… amidst laughter, of course.
TGL SHANK!
Kiz getting dangerous out here 😂
📺: ESPN and ESPN+pic.twitter.com/y3DzzXdvE8
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) January 15, 2025
The second tournament of the TGL will go down in the history of this competition for being the debut of Tiger Woods and little else. The atmosphere was fun, there was even more noise than in the first, Tiger’s presence was felt, and his team played at home. Los Angeles was even booed, and they were pressured on putts to win with shouting from the stands as if it were a free throw for the opposing team on the Panathinaikos court.
The night was entertaining. The crowd had a good time. Justin Rose stole the spotlight. He thrives in these environments. He likes match play, the Ryder format, and enjoys it like a child. He was the one who put on the most show. It might be a coincidence, but so far, those offering the most in this TGL debut are the Europeans: Lowry and Aberg in the first match and today Justin Rose. The Englishman interacted with the crowd, made a thousand gestures, somewhat reminiscent, with much more relaxation, of his attitude in the Ryder. He got into character.
In the stands were Charlie, as a special witness, and his grandmother, Tiger’s mother. There was even a moment when Kisner offered Charlie the chance to play instead of one of them. Honestly, the Jupiter Links would have fared better. But, of course, it would have been impossible.
If we want to take the match seriously to evaluate Tiger’s golf, the first conclusion is that he is more than a bit rusty. He is far from being sharp. It feels like he still has a long way to go to be competitive. He wasn’t deceiving in the Bahamas or at the PNC Championship when he said so. Similarly, it’s evident that Kisner looks more like a commentator with each passing day and less like a golfer.
Beyond the result and the level of golf, perhaps the least important aspect of this invention, this second TGL match has once again been fun, entertaining on television, and a more than interesting spectacle live.
