PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — Ludvig Åberg would be the reply to a trivia query: He made the primary birdie in TGL historical past.
And with that, the indoor golf competitors that Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy had envisioned for years was lastly underway.
TGL had its debut match Tuesday night time, with Rickie Fowler, Matt Fitzpatrick and Xander Schauffele of New York Golf Membership taking over Shane Lowry, Wyndham Clark and Aberg of The Bay Golf Membership within the opener. The 15-hole match took slightly below two hours, which is precisely how TGL envisioned this to work. Last rating: The Bay 9, New York 2.
“The final time I’ve had that a lot enjoyable was most likely final September,” Lowry stated, turning towards Clark as he stated that — the apparent reference being how he and Aberg had been a part of the European Ryder Cup crew that beat Clark and america within the fall of 2023.
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Sure, trash discuss is a part of TGL as effectively — even amongst teammates.
“Look, I had a tremendous two hours,” Lowry stated.
Lowry struck the primary shot at 9:15 p.m. 4 minutes later, the primary gap in TGL historical past was full when Aberg rolled in a 9-footer for the primary level in league play. Sure, it strikes that shortly.
“This was only a dream conjured up,” Woods stated on the ESPN broadcast. “Rory and I had been speaking about it; it is exhausting to imagine that dream got here into actuality and we had been in a position to take golf into one other stratosphere, actually.”
Woods and McIlroy — a part of the mind belief that put collectively this enterprise — had been there, as anticipated. DJ Khaled was there too, milling about whereas gamers had been warming up, displaying off his swing with an imaginary membership.
The venue is a 250,000-square-foot facility at Palm Seaside State School. Gamers hit some photographs right into a video display, some off actual grass, some off turf, and the bunkers usually are not simply actual sand — it is sand from Augusta Nationwide Golf Membership, the identical sand Woods has at his house apply facility. It is super-high-tech, with knowledge collected off each shot.
“No person had extra enjoyable than us,” Clark stated.
Gamers wore microphones, there have been betting choices and followers surrounded the “course” in an intimate enviornment the place music blared and noise was welcomed.
“A glorified man collapse a means,” Fowler stated.
As soon as groups moved inside 50 yards of the pin, they headed to a short-game complicated — with a inexperienced that sits on a 41-yard-wide turntable and has about 600 units beneath to vary the contours. Gamers stated it was troublesome to make putts, which may be comprehensible.
Followers cheered. And so they booed — a bit, anyway. Schauffele heard these after he botched a chip, a part of an evening when not a lot went proper for his crew.
“I most likely would have booed me too,” Schauffele stated.
The gamers appeared to find it irresistible. Lowry had one-liner after one-liner. A few examples:
“I’ll be the Scottie Scheffler of indoor golf.”
“A bit like myself. A bit chunky,” he stated after one shot got here up a contact brief.
It ended with a 729-yard par-5 — a reachable 729-yard par-5, if that makes any sense. Handshakes and cheers throughout when it was over, Lowry gave a giant wave to the followers and the night time was carried out.
“A lot enjoyable,” Aberg stated.
Woods beloved it when some followers had been, as an instance, not precisely quiet as Clark lined up a putt on one of many early holes.
“You do not usually hear that at occasions,” Woods stated. “You are going to hear that right here.”
Woods is anticipated to debut for his Jupiter Hyperlinks membership Jan. 14. McIlroy’s debut could possibly be Jan. 27 when Boston Widespread performs Jupiter Hyperlinks. The common season goes till March 4. There are 24 gamers — six groups of 4 — and the highest 4 groups advance to the playoffs with a best-of-three championship sequence two weeks earlier than the Masters.
Every crew prompts three gamers for a match, and the 15-hole competitions can be carried out in about two hours. It’s going to all be proven on ESPN platforms, typically in prime time. The league has been within the works for a couple of years; the unique plan was for it to begin final yr, however a storm slowed development and organizers pushed the debut again to 2025.
“It is not conventional golf, sure,” Woods stated. “However it’s golf. And that is the principle factor.”
And, as Fowler identified, the group within the enviornment is one factor, however how tv viewers settle for it is going to be the large check.
“If it does effectively there, the sky is the restrict with what you are able to do,” Fowler stated. “You may put up arenas in other places. That is simply the beginning.”
