Tiger Woods made his TGL debut. We left with 3 burning questions

How was Tiger Woods’ TGL entry?

That depends on who you ask.

An unofficial social media poll gave the general hell yeah. Social media loves Tiger Woods. Add a red shirt, a red tunnel and an amazing fog? Don’t miss the combo.

A serious student sat in front inside the SoFi Center on Tuesday night. How would Tiger’s son, Charlie, who was riding the Sprite next to his friends, get his father in? Four out of 10, told ESPN’s Marty Smith. Wow.

But perhaps the key insight came from Woods himself, who couldn’t stop grinning moments after he came up with “Eye of the Tiger” Losindile, dropped the hammer and put the opening shot down the middle?

“It was terrible,” he said. “That was much better.”

Everything is a combination of past, present and future, this TGL effort. Woods covers that. He is 49 years old and it has been a decade since he entered a PGA Tour event but he is still the most dominant player in the sport, and the league was built with his talents and aura in mind. There is no shortage of nostalgia in the DNA of this league, therefore, as it tries to push the sport into the future. IT in TGL stands (unofficially, as it turns out) for Tomorrow. It was fitting that Woods took out the Tomorrow Golf League on yesterday’s music. “Eye of the Tiger” was released in 1982, 27 years before Charlie was born. It was a bit on the nose. That didn’t matter much.

Before long, Tuesday’s contest turned into a mystery. For the red team, an early deficit turned into a huge blow. You know that phrase, “If you don’t laugh, you’ll cry?” In the end Woods did both.

However, week two of TGL left us with three burning questions.

1. What about Tiger’s team?

Look, it will take time for each team to find their bearings in a brand new stadium playing at least a new game. But Jupiter Links Golf Club, featuring on this night Woods, Max Homa and Kevin Kisner, was terrible. Like, it’s bad it’s bad. Los Angeles Golf Club – Justin Rose, Sahith Theegala and Collin Morikawa – beat ’em, 12-1.

“We were having fun,” Woods said after the round. “We hit a lot of shots. I think people here, should see how bad the professionals can be. It was just a boat race.”

Kisner appeared ill-prepared for the job. The longtime fan-favorite Tour pro is a joy on every stream he joins — and he’ll be doing that full time going forward — but the TGL is a bombshell league, and his play off the tee tells an underwhelming story. He hit just one good three and hit a ball speed of 159.6 mph with the driver, 12 mph behind the next-slowest.

But Woods, who appeared fit and showed great speed, nevertheless tested himself.

“Walking is not a problem,” he said. “My game is not very good.”

If there is hope for Jupiter that Woods will see the screen, Homa will be a reliable presence and can get a boost from the arrival of Tom Kim, his fourth partner, who is known for burning underdogs in team play.

“We called Tom and asked him to continue flying here and stay here for a while,” said Homa.

“What [Tom] do you think now? Woods asked. “Oh my God.”

Anyone who has played golf knows how hard it is to stay happy when you play bad golf. It was a gift, then, that Kisner produced the most memorable moment of the night on the 14th hole when he shot the pin, sending his teammates scrambling for cover — and then panicking.

“Honestly, we didn’t think anyone could be beaten here,” said Woods; if the ball had not hit the apron it would have ended up in the sticks. “But that was one of the funniest moments I’ve ever seen, Kiz hitting that shot. We were just dying.”

“Too far,” added Homa.

The players were understandably wary of the obvious criticism on the radio, but something was clear. Whether the cameras were malfunctioning or not, I don’t know. This is all outside of my skill set. I hope it’s nothing but theirs. Trust in technology is the foundation of everything.

3. What if we get a close match?

Two weeks ago we went in twice. That’s a bad situation for a league that promises fast, full two hours of golf. On the bright side, though: we still don’t know what a close game looks like!

We’ve learned from various iterations of The Match throughout the years that it’s practically impossible to save a blown golf game. The tension drops and then the ridiculousness and everything starts to feel ridiculous. But TGL in a close game still looks like it could be a lot of fun. Throwing hammers on high pressure putts? Tracking down a critical shot as it flies over a giant digital lava pit? Some real, genuine tension between some of the most competitive, most successful golfers in the world? I’m eager to see what that looks like.

Maybe next week.

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