TGL Debut Shows Fun Side of Golf; Fowler Throws Flagstick

Tuesday night in West Palm Beach at the TGL SoFi center, TGL brought two teams of three players into an arena to do what millions of golfers do in the cold winter months. They played “Screen Golf.”  

The difference between what regular people do and TGL is that the six played in front of a live audience that was screaming, booing, and cheering as shots were hit into the screen from the tee, from the rough, or the sand with results shown on a five-story tall, live video wall. And there were millions watching worldwide, too. That is definitely not something that regular people experience!

After golfers reached the green virtually, they moved to a putting green devised with slopes that can be changed, courtesy of 600 underground jacks, to finish off the hole. Putts were given, something you'll never see in a PGA Tour event, because they can't do that in stroke play. This is match play.

TGL featured a shot clock

What added some extra tension to the event was the 40-second shot clock that was used for each shot and each player. No exceptions. Nobody got penalized for going over the 40-second time limit. 

In addition to being part of the team that created TGL, both Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy tried their hands at some commentary during the event. Tiger seemed to get caught up in the shots more than McIlroy, but no matter. Any time two of the best golfers offer opinions on any part of golf, it's a draw for fans.

Competitors were The New York Golf Club (NYGC) with Xander Schauffele, Rickie Fowler, and Matt Fitzpatrick playing The Bay Golf Club (TBGC) with Shane Lowry, Wyndham Clark, and Ludvig Aberg, who was clearly the star of the match hitting shots to gimme distance and holing long putts.

In the end, The Bay Golf Cub absolutely smacked down The New York Golf Club, 9-2, and even though they won the match early, they kept playing. There was a reason. They are playing for total season points in a variety of formats. While nobody mentioned money, the total season purse is $21 million with the winning team receiving $9 million.

Biggest Surprise: Fowler debuted glasses. The better to see something with. Was he channeling Clark Kent or Superman? It depended on which shot he hit!  But it was a good look. Does it portend a Warby Parker or LensCrafters sponsorship?   

Best Part of Play: gimmes and hammers. Gimmes sped up play for the TGL match, just like they do for golfers everywhere. 

Shot of The Match: Rickie Fowler tossing a flag stick in the way of Shane Lowry’s putt. What?

Fowler, always the showman, had given the putt to Lowry and The Bay Golf Club. He said to Lowry, more or less, the TV audience knows you won, but the people here don’t. Shane caught on and stroked the putt. Rickie tossed the flagstick in his way. The ball hit the flagstick and bounced over it but deflected, so no chance of going in the hole. Some fun for everybody!

Why the number of holes won matters:  Based on their records, four teams will make the semifinals played on March 17 and 18, which are the Monday and Tuesday following The Players. Then the best two teams will play best-of-three for the win on March 24 and 25, which is following the Valspar Championship. The winner becomes the TGL Championship team for 2025.