Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy watched on as the opening match of the inaugural TGL season \u2013 the new high-tech indoor golf league attempting to revolutionize golf \u2013 took place on Tuesday. <\/p>\n
The Bay Golf Club \u2013 comprised of Ludvig \u00c5berg, Shane Lowry and Wyndham Clark \u2013 beat the New York Golf Club \u2013 made up of Xander Schauffele, Matt Fitzpatrick and Rickie Fowler \u2013 9-2 over their 15 holes at the SoFi Center in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. <\/p>\n
The competition, which was delayed for a year, had to wait a few moments longer after Lowry forgot a tee for the first shot of the new format but eventually the Irishman got proceeding underway, blasting his tee shot into the big screen and down the fairway. <\/p>\n
It was a dominant performance for The Bay Golf Club who quickly raced into a 6-0 lead in front of a packed arena, with Lowry securing the win on the par-five 10th hole as he beat Fowler to make the score 7-1 with five holes left. <\/p>\n
The whole event was played with smiles on the faces of everyone involved, with players mic\u2019d up throughout to be able to hear the interactions between the competitors. Lowry was inarguably the star of the show after saying numerous humorous lines during the match, including: \u201cI\u2019m going to be the Scottie Scheffler of indoor golf.\u201d <\/p>\n
The players were introduced in a manner very different to the traditional golf atmosphere, with loud music, smoke cannons and an announcer welcoming the players into the venue like boxers ahead of a fight. <\/p>\n
There were also plenty of humorous moments to entertain spectators, including when Fowler threw the flag onto the green in front of Lowry\u2019s ball to block his shot with The Bay Golf Club\u2019s victory already sealed. <\/p>\n
Woods and McIlroy \u2013 who co-founded TMRW Sports, the company which came up with the idea of the new format \u2013 were both in attendance for the first-ever TGL match, with Woods joining the TGL broadcast at points to express his excitement at the action he was watching and also explain where the idea for TGL came from. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis was just a dream conjured up,\u201d Woods said. \u201cRory and I were talking about it; it\u2019s hard to believe that dream came into reality and we were able to take golf into another stratosphere, really.\u201d <\/p>\n
Woods added: \u201cIt\u2019s not traditional golf, yes, but it is golf. And that\u2019s the main thing.\u201d <\/p>\n
After the opening match, many of the players detailed how much they enjoyed the debut of TGL. <\/p>\n
Lowry said he had \u201can amazing two hours.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cThe last time I\u2019ve had that much fun was probably last September,\u201d he said, referencing his participation in Team Europe\u2019s victorious outing at the Ryder Cup in 2023. <\/p>\n
\u00c5berg, who was also on that European team, echoed Lowry\u2019s sentiment. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was awesome,\u201d the Swede said afterwards. \u201cI always said I was so jealous of basketball and football players because they get to do this a lot and we don\u2019t. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo this whole stadium-like feel is awesome to be a part of, and it gets you going a little bit differently from a normal golf tournament.\u201d <\/p>\n
The second game of TGL takes place on January 14 with the Los Angeles Golf Club taking on the Jupiter Links Golf Club where Woods is expected his make his TGL debut for Jupiter Links. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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