CNN
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Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy watched Tuesday’s opening game of the inaugural TGL season – the new high-tech indoor golf league that aims to revolutionize the game of golf.

Bay Golf Club – consisting of Ludvig Åberg, Shane Lowry and Wyndham Clark – defeated New York Golf Club – consisting of Xander Schauffele, Matt Fitzpatrick and Rickie Fowler – 9-2 over their 15 holes at the SoFi Center in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

The contest, which was delayed a year, had to wait a few moments longer after Lowry missed a tee shot on the first shot of the new format, but eventually the Irishman went ahead and fired his tee shot onto the big screen and down the fairway .

It was a dominant performance for Bay Golf Club, which quickly built a 6-0 lead in front of a packed arena, with Lowry securing the win on the par-5 10th hole by beating Fowler to bring the score to 7-7. 1 increased five holes left.

The entire event passed with smiles on everyone’s faces, with players having microphones throughout to hear the interactions between participants. Lowry was undoubtedly the star of the show, having said numerous humorous lines during the game, including, “I’m going to be the Scottie Scheffler of indoor golf.”

The players were introduced in a way that differed from the traditional golf atmosphere: loud music, smoke cannons and an announcer welcomed players into the venue like boxers before a fight.

There were also plenty of humorous moments to entertain spectators, including when Fowler threw the flag onto the green in front of Lowry’s ball to block his shot while Bay Golf Club’s victory was already sealed.

Woods and McIlroy – co-founder of TMRW Sports, the company that came up with the idea of ​​the new format – were both in attendance at the first-ever TGL game, with Woods intermittently cutting into the TGL broadcast to express his excitement about explaining it the action he observed and also explain where the idea for TGL came from.

“It was just a conjured dream,” Woods said. “Rory and I talked about it; It’s hard to believe that this dream has become a reality and that we have truly taken golf into another stratosphere.”

Woods added, “It’s not traditional golf, but it’s golf.” And that’s the main thing.”

After the opening game, many players expressed how much they enjoyed the TGL’s debut.

Lowry said he had an “amazing two hours.”

“The last time I had this much fun was probably last September,” he said, referencing his participation in Team Europe’s victorious Ryder Cup appearance in 2023.

Åberg, who was also on that European team, echoed Lowry’s sentiments.

“It was great,” said the Swede afterwards. “I’ve always said that I’m so jealous of basketball and football players because they get to do that a lot and we don’t.

“It’s great to be part of that whole stadium feel and it pushes you forward a little differently than a normal golf tournament.”

The second TGL game will take place on January 14th, with Los Angeles Golf Club taking on Jupiter Links Golf Club, where Woods is expected to make his TGL debut for Jupiter Links.