Tiger Woods, along with Rory McIlroy, helped create the technology-infused TGL, which concluded its second season on Tuesday night. The two superstars knew it wouldn’t be like traditional golf, but that was the point. The idea was to attract new, younger fans who might be interested in golf shots played amidst gushing lava and post-apocalyptic cityscapes.
But he never said golf would be easy. Woods, playing for a Jupiter Lynx team for the first time in more than a year after cheering from the sidelines for a year, met his own monster in the lopsided final game of the season.
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Woods found it difficult to get into a rhythm with only nine total shots (four of which were putts), and although he made a few strong swings, he hit a wedge wide of the green on the 110-yard par-3 and missed a 3.5-foot putt on the seventh hole. This gave Los Angeles Golf Club the spark it needed for a 9-2 rout, ending the match and the championship on the 10th hole.
With a 6-5 win in Game 1 on Monday night, Los Angeles dominated the best-of-three match, with Justin Rose, Tommy Fleetwood and Saheth Segala taking home their first TGL title and first place prize of $9 million.
“Physically, I feel good,” Woods said after the match. “What was interesting was the shots, because when you’re actually playing a regular round of golf and you’re hitting shots, you have more rhythm. Here, you feel like you’re a little iced out sometimes. … It’s just a different rhythm. It’s like when you play in the Ryder Cup or the Presidents Cup and you play in a foursome. Depending on the match, sometimes you haven’t hit a putt for like 10, 11 holes and then all of a sudden you have to hit a putt.” That’s what it’s like here.
“For me, this was different, because I’d never really done this before. I’ve seen them do it, and they make it look easy. I haven’t done this in a while, but it was a lot of fun to be a part of it.”
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The announcement late Monday night that the 50-year-old Woods would play on the second night sparked buzz over the return of the 15-time major champion, whose last time playing on the PGA Tour was at the British Open in 2024. Woods’ only competitive involvement was when he and his son Charlie were runners-up at the 2024 PNC Championship and in one match at TGL last March.
Since then, Woods underwent Achilles tendon surgery last March and L4-L5 disc replacement surgery last October.
Woods, who replaced teammate Kevin Kisner so he could play alongside Tom Kim and Max Homa, seemed genuinely excited to get a taste of the battle. “I love to compete, I really do,” he told ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt before the game. He added: “It’s one step at a time. Tonight was a great step.”
But to fans’ chagrin, Woods didn’t think this was a strong step forward toward the Masters, which is less than two weeks away. Woods, a five-time Masters champion, said in a post-match interview that he had been preparing for the match.
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“This body just doesn’t recover like it did when I was 24, 25. It’s not like I’m not trying. I’ve been trying for a while. I’ve had some major injuries here the last few years and had to work through them and it took me a while. … I want to play. I love the tournament. I’ve loved being there (at Augusta) since I was 19 years old. It means a lot to me and my family over the years. ”
Rose said as soon as Woods’ participation was announced that the night would be special. Sharing the floor with a “legend” was “awesome,” he said.
“He really brings a lot to the table,” said the Englishman. “I was watching with interest…well, it would have been nice to see where he was. He was impressive. I don’t think he hit a bad shot. The only bad shot he hit wasn’t a bad shot. It was just a shot that was too good, almost a wedge that flew too far. But his fairway wood looked great, everything.”
“Obviously he made a putt and missed short. If you’re not in the game, that’s a bit of a show, so I hope that changes for him in the not-too-distant future.”
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Adam Glanzman/TGL
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Winning the season title was an elation for the LA team, which consisted of two Britons and a young man named Segala, who hails from Southern California and grew up in Chino Hills on the city’s east side. Rose won the U.S. Open, Fleetwood won last season’s FedEx Cup, and Seagala has one win on tour and is on track to bounce back this season after suffering an injury setback in 2025.
“We have two of the most successful British golfers who will go down in history as the best in golf. They’ve won quite a few trophies, but I think they’ll agree that it’s a brutal sport where you don’t win very often,” Segala said. “It was a great week. We finished third or fourth. We played great to get there, but we still lost to one or two guys.”
“This is a sport where you don’t get to the top very often, so you have to savor every moment of being at the top, and I’m so happy to be able to do that with these guys. They’re family now. It’s really special to do it as a team. We’re so excited to celebrate this, and I’m already looking forward to next year.”
