PALM BEACH GARDENS — Tiger Woods walked out of the arena at the SoFi Center on Tuesday night showing few signs his much-anticipated TGL debut had turned into the biggest beatdown in the league’s brief history.
Giggly and red-eyed from laughter, Woods took a self-deprecating tone to his team’s 12-1 lashing at the hands of Collin Morikawa and Los Angeles Golf Club.
“We were entertaining. We hit a lot of shots,” Woods laughed. “I think the people here got to see how bad pros can be. It was a boat race. … I can only imagine what our teammate, Tom Kim, is thinking.”
Woods and his Jupiter Links playing teammates, Kevin Kisner and Max Homa, took refuge in the learning curve of hitting into a 60-foot screen and the playing surface’s uncertainty at SoFi Center.
“We hit every single wedge shot long,” Woods said.
“Significantly long,” Kisner said.
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Kisner’s skulled sand wedge on hole No. 14 may not have been the longest, but it was certainly the most memorable, ricocheting off the flag stick and towards the audience nearly 60 feet away from the hole.
The scale of the error brought Woods to laughter and then tears, which he still couldn’t shake 20 minutes later while conducting post-match interviews.
It’s a testament to the ease Woods felt while competing in front of his Palm Beach County family and friends as well as the laid-back nature of TGL competition.
“We honestly didn’t think that anyone [in the audience] could get hit in here,” Woods said. “That was honestly one of the funniest things I’ve seen. And then the chip shot, the next one, should’ve gone in … It was just one of those weird nights.”
TGL results tonight: Tiger Woods, Jupiter Links crushed by Los Angeles Golf Club
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Woods, who has played in recent years while dealing with leg pain stemming from a serious 2021 car crash, didn’t have to worry about the several miles of walking typically associated with an 18-hole round.
Not that Woods feels that is a priority given the state of his golf game. He missed medium-distance putts on hole No. 4 and No. 9 to hand points to Los Angeles Golf Club in a runaway start to the match.
“As evident from today, I don’t have any golf skills,” Woods laughed. “The walking is not really an issue. It’s that my game is not very good.”
Woods did manage to spark Jupiter Links’ only point of the night. He stuck his team’s second shot on the par-4 No. 6 to 9 feet. After Morikawa missed a long par putt, Los Angeles conceded.
Woods’ Palm Beach County project
Woods’ son, Charlie, and mother, Kultida, were on hand for his playing debut with TGL, which began with Survivor’s 1982 hit “Eye of the Tiger” in his walk-out sequence.
Charlie could be heard on the ESPN broadcast and Woods said his son joked with him about his team’s poor performance on the big stage.
“I have so many friends out here. It was great,” Woods said. “To have this SoFi Center here where I live and to have something that is going to change the game and how it’s perceived and looked at with young viewers … To have that here in my hometown is incredible.
“This is unique and something golf has never seen before. … I know my family was blown away at the enormity of the space. And on top of that, the rotating green. It’s really neat. It’s intimate. I think that’s one of the cool things about it.”
Eric J. Wallace is deputy sports editor for The Palm Beach Post. He can be reached at ejwallace@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Tiger Woods’ losing TGL debut brought golf legend to tears of laughter
