Tiger Woods' TGL debut wasn't short on impressive gadgetry - but it will take more than that for his hi-tech vision to take off, writes RIATH AL-SAMARRAI
Share:
It was with no shortage of enthusiasm that Tiger Woods congratulated himself in the early hours of Wednesday morning. As his technology-infused vision of golf’s future was unveiled in Palm Beach, Florida, he declared that the sport had been taken ‘into another stratosphere’.
![[The Bay Golf Club of Ludvig Aberg, Wyndham Clark, and Shane Lowry were the first winners]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/08/21/93887793-14264513-image-a-23_1736371839405.jpg)
We might choose to put that one down to altitude sickness, then. But as opening nights go, the debut of Tomorrow’s Golf League was not at all bad. It wasn’t great, either, but TGL will hardly be the desecration of the ancient game that some purists will chunter about. Those people were never the target audience for Woods’ collaboration with Rory McIlroy, culminating in this $50million showpiece, where shots were played into a 64ft tall screen before teams of three elite golfers putted out on an artificial green.
![[The impressive gadgets on display are certainly worthy of attention but this expensive venture will need competitive relevance and intensity to sustain itself]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/08/21/93887743-14264513-image-a-21_1736371806963.jpg)
The great unknown is whether such a fusion of technology and tees (and a 2am start for UK audiences) can draw a younger crowd. The star of the production was undoubtedly the impressive gadgetry, especially a green that could contort itself to simulate 30 different putting surfaces.
The pace of play — two hours to complete the 15-hole format, upheld by 40sec shot clocks — was also a balm to the usual tedium, even if the introduction of Patrick Cantlay in a fortnight might challenge that aspect. Tiger Woods' TGL debuted in the early hours of Wednesday morning but the jury remains out.
