PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — Tiger Woods was the sixth and final player to emerge from the tunnel and onto the field of play for his TGL debut on Tuesday night.
No one announced his name. Wasn’t necessary.
Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger” blared and that was more than enough of an introduction for perhaps golf’s greatest player ever. It’s not like anyone inside SoFi Center at Palm Beach State College didn’t know who Woods was, and most were even probably aware of how he, Rory McIlroy and others spent years trying to make this notion of indoor golf on TV happen.
“It is a reality now,” Woods said.
Week 2 of TGL was Tuesday night — Woods joined Kevin Kisner and Max Homa of Jupiter Links Golf Club to take on the Los Angeles Golf Club of Justin Rose, Collin Morikawa and Sahith Theegala.
The final score: Los Angeles 12, Jupiter 1 in the 15-hole, made-for-TV team match featuring nine holes of alternate shot triples play, followed by six holes of singles play — two holes for each player on each team. Woods was smiling throughout, even with the lopsided score. The format is such that he only took 20 shots over the course of the match, which lasted just over two hours.
“We were entertaining,” Woods said, still laughing even after the rout ended inside the arena built just a few miles from his Jupiter Island home. “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’ team got on the wrong side of the scoreboard quickly, falling behind 5-0. It could have been worse if Woods hadn’t made an 8-footer for par to help his team get a tie on the fifth hole. That putt came one hole after Woods slid a 7-footer wide to the left.
“It’s about time, Tiger,” tennis legend Serena Williams said on the ESPN broadcast. Williams is a longtime friend of Woods, so she found herself rooting for him — and she is part of the ownership group of the Los Angeles Golf Club, so she found herself simultaneously rooting against him.
There were vintage Woods moments, like staring down shots he liked as the super-high-tech video boards told the tale of where the ball would have gone outdoors. There were also frustrating ones; he shook his head after he sent a 101-yard wedge into the water on the second hole of the 15-hole match — as son Charlie, sitting in one of the seats in the arena overlooking the course, couldn’t help but laugh.
“This is unique. This is something that golf has never seen before,” Woods said. “You have an arena like this and you out there with great guys, entertain everyone, just have fun.”
It wasn’t just Charlie Woods chuckling at Jupiter Links’ play. Tiger Woods was as well — especially when , sent it ricocheting off the pin as his teammates ducked for cover.
“We honestly didn’t think that anyone could possibly get hit in here,” Woods said.
The golf might be a hit. Woods was hoping viewers watched until the end; Homa suggested that Duke fans would still be watching, since the Blue Devils were playing Miami on ESPN after the golf ended. And Woods, who walked with his son in a tournament last month, looked like he was physically sound — at least in the sense that he didn’t seem to be holding anything back while swinging.
Physically, he said he felt fine. As far as the golf: “The walking’s not the issue. My game’s not any good,” Woods said.
Williams sat in the Los Angeles box just to the right of the players’ teeing areas, enjoying the spectacle of the walk-out introductions, light and smoke shows and booming music.
“It’s so wild,” Williams said. “It’s something that you see a little bit in tennis. We see it all the time in basketball, right? We don’t really see it so much in golf. Actually, we never see that in golf. It’s so good to kind of see their personalities and see them shine as golfers. … It’s so cool to see a new aspect.”
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