Tiger Woods makes his TGL debut. We’re left with 3 burning questions

What’s the status of Tiger Woods’ TGL entry?

It depends on who you ask.

An informal poll on social media shows the overall picture God yes. Social media loves Tiger Woods. Plus a red shirt, a red tunnel and some dramatic fog? A combination not to be missed.

There was a tougher grader sitting in the front row at SoFi Center on Tuesday night. Tiger’s son Charlie is playing Sprite with some buddies. How will he get his father in? four out of ten, he told ESPN’s Marty Smith. Ouch.

But maybe the only perspective that matters comes from Woods himself, when he appeared on Survivor’s Eye of the Tiger and couldn’t help but smile, put down the hammer, and hit a tee shot right to center?

“That’s amazing,” he said. “That’s the best.”

TGL’s efforts are an optimistic blend of past, present and future. Woods embodies that. He’s 49 and it’s been five years since he started on the PGA Tour, but he’s still the biggest draw in the sport, and the league was built on his talent and aura. So there’s no shortage of nostalgia in the league’s DNA, even as it attempts to push the sport into the future. The T in TGL (unofficially, it turns out) stands for tomorrow. It’s fitting that Woods made his Tomorrow Golf League debut in Music Yesterday. “Eye of the Tiger” was released in 1982, 27 years before Charlie was born. A bit pungent. That’s not important.

It didn’t take long for Tuesday’s game to get a little boring. For the red team, an early deficit turned into a huge blowout. Do you know the saying “If you don’t laugh, you will cry”? In the end Woods did both.

But looking at the big picture, week two of TGL left us with three burning questions.

1. How is Tiger’s team doing?

Look, it takes some time for every team to adjust to a sport that’s at least semi-new in a new arena. But the Jupiter Links golf club, which featured Woods, Max Homa and Kevin Kisner, was terrible tonight. like, bad Bad. Los Angeles Golf Club — Justin Rose, Sahith Theegala and Collin Morikawa — defeated them 12-1.

“We had a lot of fun,” Woods said after the game. “We made a lot of shots. I think the people here, they have to see how bad the pros are. It’s just a boat race.

Kisner seemed unprepared for the endeavor. The long-time fan-favorite Tour pro delights in every broadcast he joins and will do it full-time, but TGL is a bomber league and his performance off the tee tells the story of an unfortunate story. He hit just one of three fairways and averaged just 159.6 mph with his driver, 12 mph slower than the next-slowest ball speed.

But while Woods looked healthy and showed plenty of speed, he offered a blunt self-assessment.

“Walking is not a problem,” he said. “It’s just my game that’s not very good.”

If there’s hope for the Jupiters, it’s that Woods can find cover, Homa will be a reliable presence, and they can draw energy from the arrival of their fourth teammate, Tom King, who’s known for playing in team match play. Known for lighting up the weak.

“We called Tom and asked him to fly out here and stay at this location for a while,” Homa said.

“What is [Tom] Are you thinking about it now? Woods asked. “OMG.”

Anyone who has ever played golf knows how difficult it is to stay happy when you’re not playing well. It was a gift, then, that Kisner produced the night’s most memorable moment on the 14th hole, when he knocked a bunker shot off the pin and sent his teammates ducking for cover, And then fell into hysterics.

“Honestly, we didn’t think anyone could get hit here,” Woods said. If the ball misses the flagpole, it falls into the stands. “But that was one of the funniest moments I’ve ever seen, Kizz hitting the ball like that. We were dying.

“Pretty long,” Homa added.

Players are understandably wary of public criticism on air, but clearly something has happened. Whether the camera isn’t rotating correctly or, well, I don’t know. It’s all beyond my skill set. Hopefully it’s nothing outside of them. Trust in technology is fundamental to the whole thing.

3. What would it look like if we were evenly matched?

Two weeks later, we also had two big wins. Here’s the bright side, though: we still don’t know what a close game looks like!

We’ve learned from various iterations of The Match over the years that salvaging a blowout golf tournament is basically impossible. The tension is gone, the banter is gone, and the whole thing starts to feel a little ridiculous. But in a close game, TGL still looked fun. Losing the hammer on a high-pressure putter? Track a crucial kickoff as it flies through a giant digital lava pit? Is there real tension between some of the most competitive and accomplished golfers on the planet? I’d love to see what that looks like.

Maybe next week.

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