Now that’s more like it.
A week after TGL slogged to a finish during which Patrick Cantlay put “The Hammer” under lock and key, the simulator golf league’s most-anticipated night arrived as Tiger Woods’ Jupiter Links Golf Club took on Rory McIlroy’s Boston Common Golf.
The stars delivered the most entertaining and competitive match thus far, showcasing what the league can be when all the necessary parts align. Well, more or less.
But we’ll get there.
Did TGL find its winning formula?
In the first three weeks, TGL appeared caught between two places. It couldn’t decide if it wanted to be just an unserious hit-and-giggle or a competition with stakes that should matter to the viewing public. Who wins the SoFi Cup doesn’t need to matter, but if it’s going to be on ESPN, there does need to be an element of serious competition.
The two blowouts in the first two weeks didn’t help, but the TGL seemed lost as it attempted to be both sport and entertainment. The problem was that the banter and entertainment that TGL pitched wouldn’t materialize without the competitive aspect. Think of it like a pick-up hoops game with your old college friends or a back-yard beer Pong tournament. It’s all fun and games until the competitive juices kick in, the trash talk starts and we’re off.
On Monday, Woods and McIlroy’s teams delivered a competitive match — an overtime win for Jupiter Links — that saw many clutch putts holed, Tom Kim ham it up for the crowd and a formula for success emerge.
TGL needs its stars. No question.
Golf currently lacks needle-movers outside of Woods, McIlroy and a few others who aren’t on TGL rosters. So when TGL has Woods or McIlroy playing, the league needs to make the most of those matches.
It also needs to embrace the goofy nature of arena simulator golf (more gimmick holes with lava, please!) while showing that the best players in the world care about the outcome of the match.
These guys are all hyper-competitive, and if you get them to buy in and care about the shots, then the viewing public just might, too.
On Monday night, Woods was grinding over an 8-foot birdie putt to tie McIlroy in the same way he would a putt down the stretch on a Sunday at a major. That might sound absurd, but Woods clearly wanted to beat McIlroy. He was grinding so hard over the putt that he got tagged with the first-shot clock violation in TGL history.
Earlier in the match, McIlroy made Woods putt a 4-footer, which elicited an “Are you kidding me?” look from Tiger.
That’s the good stuff!
Add in some great commentary from Kevin Kisner, an overload of antics from Kim, a closest-to-the-pin overtime shootout and several big putts that drew sincere celebrations from McIlroy, Adam Scott, Woods and Kim, and you have the makings of an entertainment product.
Overtime own goal
Unfortunately, the TGL couldn’t fully capitalize on its first competitive match due to a severe unforced error.
When the two teams reached the overtime closest-to-the-pin shootout, they got to choose the order in which they would hit their shots.
The easy answer would be to have Woods and McIlroy hit second. This would ensure they both hit in the overtime period and set up the two stars hitting the biggest shots of the OT, with one having the chance to win the match and one having the opportunity to extend.
Instead, Woods and McIlroy hit third, and, as expected, they never got the chance to swing the club as Kim and Kisner won the first two holes for Jupiter to end the match.
That can’t happen.
If you’re going to get the Rory-Tiger match to go to OT, you have to make sure they’re invovled.
For a league trying to capture viewers and attention, you can’t miss that kind of opportunity when it presents itself.
That was the lone botch on a great night for TGL, but it’s a notable whiff.
Tech issues
The technology was off during Woods’ first TGL match, but it seemed to better last week when Atlanta Drive beat New York Golf Club. TGL tinkered with the yardage for the tee boxes on shorter shots, and it appeared to solve what was a big issue on the second night.
However, there were still some problems with the technology, including TGL’s high-tech green.
Both problems popped up during a bizarre ruling on the par-3 5th hole when Kisner hit his tee shot to the slope on the back of the green. Physics would dictate that Kisner’s ball would roll back down the slope. Instead, the ball stuck on the side of the slope, which led Kisner to claim Jupiter was “jobbed” out of “nine feet.”
When they got to the green and Kisner tried to place ball on the spot where the simulator had it stop, he could not get the ball to stay in place; rules official Mark Russell had Kisner place his ball in a flatter position that was not closer to the hole. TGL’s green has been one its biggest issues through the first four weeks. Players have routinely run putts 5 to 7 feet past the hole, and the inability to place a ball on a slope brings into question the severity of the green.
The tech issues seem like things TGL should be able to iron out as they get going. But it’s crucial that the technology doesn’t make the players look bad or draw criticism from them as it did from Kisner on Monday.
Broadcast lane
Credit to Matt Barrie and Marty Smith for putting themselves out there and trying to find the best way to broadcast a unique product.
There have been some big misses early on, but it’s fair to expect growing pains from everyone during a start-up’s early days. Smith’s question to European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald last week about what Matt Fitzpatrick can take from TGL into the Ryder Cup was absurd but harmless.
