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 informal social media poll provided a general hell yes. Social media loves Tiger Woods. Add a red shirt, a red tunnel and some dramatic fog? The combo can’t be missed.

A tougher student sat in the front row inside the SoFi Center Tuesday night. How would Tiger’s son Charlie mark the entrance of his father, who was carrying a Sprite along with some friends? four out of 10, he told ESPN’s Marty Smith. Oh.

But perhaps the only relevant perspective came from Woods himself, who couldn’t stop laughing in the moments after appearing in Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger,” which went down. the hammer and laced opening tee shot in the center?

“That was it wonderful“, he said. “That was the best.”

It’s all an optimistic mix of past, present and future, this TGL effort. Woods embodies that. He’s 49 years old and it’s been half a decade since he’s played in a PGA Tour event, but he’s still the sport’s biggest draw, and this league was built with his talent and vibe in mind. There’s no shortage of nostalgia in this league’s DNA, then, even as it tries to push the sport into the future. T in TGL stands for (unofficially, as it turns out) for Tomorrow. It was fitting that Woods debuted Tomorrow’s 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 really matter.

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

But the big picture, Week 2 of TGL left us with three burning questions.

1. What’s going on with the Tiger team?

Look, it’s going to take some time for any team to get their bearings in a brand new arena playing what is at least a semi-new sport. But Jupiter Links Golf Club, composed on this night of Woods, Max Homa and Kevin Kisner, was bad. like, bad bad. Los Angeles Golf Club – Justin Rose, Sahith Theegala and Collin Morikawa – defeated them, 12-1.

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

Kisner seemed particularly unprepared for the effort. The long-time fan-favorite Tour pro is a delight on every broadcast he joins — and will be doing it full time going forward – but the TGL is a bomber league and his performance off the tee told an unfortunate story. He hit just one of three fairways and averaged just 159.6 mph with driver, 12 mph behind the next slowest.

But Woods, who looked healthy and showed plenty of speed, nevertheless offered an open self-assessment.

“It’s not about walking,” he said. “It’s just that my game isn’t very good.”

If there’s hope for Jupiter, it’s that Woods will understand the screen, Homa will be a reliable presence and they can draw energy from the arrival of Tom Kim, their fourth teammate, who is known for turning on the underdogs. in team matches.

“We called Tom and asked him to fly here, live in this thing for a while,” Homa said.

“What is (Tom) thinking now? Woods asked. “Oh my God.”

Anyone who has ever played golf knows how hard it is to stay happy when playing bad golf. It was a gift, then, that Kisner produced the night’s most memorable moment on the 14th hole when he hit a bunker away from the pin, sending his teammates for cover – and then into hysterics.

“We honestly didn’t think anyone could get hit here,” Woods said; if the ball hadn’t hit the post, it would have ended up in the stands. “But that was one of the funniest moments I’ve ever seen, Kiz hitting it that way. We were just dying.”

“Significantly long,” added Homa.

Players were wary of overt criticism on the air, but something was clear. Whether the cameras weren’t capturing the spin properly or, well, I have no idea. This is all outside my skill set. Hopefully it’s not beyond them. Trust in technology is the foundation of the whole thing.

3. What will it look like if we have a close match?

Two weeks later, we also have two strikes. That’s a nightmare scenario for a league that promises a fast-paced, action-packed two hours of golf. On the bright side, though: we still don’t know what a close match looks like!

We’ve learned from the various iterations of The Match over the years that it’s basically impossible to save a putt golf match. The tension breaks and so do the jokes and the whole thing starts to feel a little ridiculous. But TGL in a tight matchup still looks like it could be a lot of fun. Dropping hammers on high-pressure shots? Tracking down an important tee shot as it flies over a massive pit of digital lava? A real, actual tension between some of the most competitive and highest-achieving players on the planet? I’m willing to see how it looks.

Maybe next week.

“>