Week two of the TGL brought another rout and this time it was an even more one-sided affair as Collin Morikawa, Justin Rose and Sahith Theegala of the LA Golf Club annihilated Tiger Woods, Max Homa and Kevin Kisner representing Jupiter Links.
Morikawa and co. raced to an early advantage after victories on the second and third holes – the latter coming with a hammer throw and acceptance – to go 3-UP after three. Another hammer throw, this time by the losing side, meant hole four’s value would be doubled once more, but it backfired and LA increased their advantage to five.
Jupiter Links got their first point on the board when Woods holed an eight-footer on the sixth hole, but it would be the only time they’d land a meaningful blow and LA restored a five-point advantage when Rose canned a 14-footer for birdie on eight and they stretched their advantage to seven courtesy of another hammer victory on nine.
With victory all but assured, Woods and Rose faced off in the first hole of singles play and, despite both teams throwing the hammer back and forth increasing the hole value to three-points, the resulting tie in bogey-sixes meant victory was guaranteed for LA and the hammer now defunct.
It didn’t get any better from there for Woods’ side, with Morikawa taking the next hole over Kisner, Theegala and Homa tying, and then LA winning each of the remaining three singles holes to complete a 12-1 victory.
That the highlight of the day came from Kevin Kisner, who bladed a bunker shot that was destined to airmail the green by about 40 yards and have fans and high-cost equipment in severe jeopardy before clattering the pin and ending up greenside really says it all as the high-tech league took a major step back from the promise delivered on the opening night.
It was an extremely light-hearted moment and brought tears of laughter to all six players, but that the most memorable moment was a horrendous shot speaks volumes.
“We were entertaining,” Woods said post-round. “We hit a lot of shots. I think the people here, they got to see how bad pros can be. It was just a boat race.”
Along with the decidedly poor play from Jupiter Links as a whole and Kisner in particular, the accuracy of the technology came into question as both Woods, Kisner and Morikawa at various stages appeared shocked as what they thought were well-struck shots came up either well short or well long.
This didn’t help the spectacle, and enthusiasm for the showdown between Rory McIlroy’s Boston Common and Woods’ Jupiter Links in a fortnight’s time has already dampened.
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