PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — Tiger Woods was the sixth and last player to exit the tunnel and onto the fairway in his TGL debut Tuesday night.
No one announced his name. It was unnecessary.
Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger” rang out and that was more than enough introduction to the greatest golfer of all time. It’s not like anyone inside the SoFi Center at Palm Beach State College didn’t know who Woods was, and most likely knew how he, Rory McIlroy and others spent years trying to make this idea of indoor golf on TV happen.
“It’s real now,” Woods said.
Week 2 of the TGL was Tuesday night — Woods joined Jupiter Links Golf Club’s Kevin Kisner and Max Homa to play the Los Angeles Golf Club’s Justin Rose, Collin Morikawa and Sahith Theegala.
Final score: Los Angeles 12, Jupiter 1 in a 15-hole, made-for-TV team match featuring nine holes of triple play, followed by six holes of single play — two holes for each player on each team. Woods was smiling throughout, even the lost points. His organization meant he only took 20 shots during the game, which lasted just over two hours.
“We were having fun,” Woods said, still laughing even after the end of the course built a few miles from his home on Jupiter Island. “We hit a lot of shots. I think the people there saw how bad the pros can be. It was just a boat race, oh my God. But we had a good time.”
Woods’ team got on the wrong side of the scoreboard quickly, falling behind 5-0. It would have been bad if Woods hadn’t made an 8-footer to help his team earn a tie on the fifth hole. That putt came one hole after Woods slid 7 feet wide to the left.
“It’s about time, Tiger,” tennis legend Serena Williams said on ESPN. Williams is a longtime friend of Woods, so he found himself rooting for him — and he’s part of the ownership group of the Los Angeles Golf Club, so he found himself at odds with him at the same time.
There were classic Woods moments, like staring down his favorite shots as high-tech video boards told the story of where the ball was going to land. There were also frustrations; shook his head after he sent a 101-yard wedge into the water on the second hole of a 15-hole match — as his son, Charlie, sat in one of the stadium seats overlooking the course, unable to help. but laugh.
“This is unique. This is something golf has never seen before,” Woods said. “You’ve got a field like that with you out there with good guys, make everybody happy, just have fun.”
It wasn’t just Charlie Woods laughing at the Jupiter Links game. Tiger Woods was — especially when Kisner took a shot into the sand and sent it tumbling into the corner as his teammates scrambled for cover.
“Honestly, we didn’t think anybody was going to get hit here,” Woods said.
Homa apologized for the technicalities.
I apologize to all actors around the world. We failed tonight
— max homa (@Maxhoma) January 15, 2025
Golf may be successful. Woods hoped viewers would watch until the end; Homa suggested that Duke fans will still be watching, as the Blue Devils were playing Miami on ESPN after the golf game ended. And Woods, who took his son to the tournament last month, appeared to be in good shape — at least in the sense that he didn’t seem to be slowing down during his swing.
Physically, he said he feels fine. About golf: “Going is not a problem. My game is not good at all,” Woods said.
Williams sits in the Los Angeles box just to the right of the players’ lounges, enjoying the spectacle of exit introductions, light and smoke shows and soulful music.
“It’s very wild,” Williams said. “It’s something you see a little bit in tennis. We see it all the time in basketball, don’t we? We don’t see it much in golf. Actually, we never see that in golf. It’s a great type of golf. See their personalities and see them shine as golfers … It’s great to see a new dimension.”
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
