First-ever playoff delivers the energy TGL was hoping for
2 Min Read
Tiger Woods spiked his golf ball. Rory McIlroy ran around the green and jumped in the air while high-fiving Adam Scott. Tom Kim fell down after nearly holing a bunker shot.
TGL had shown promise in its first month of competition, but it had yet to produce a tight match that put viewers – and the golfers – on the edge of their seats. That changed Monday night.
Jupiter Links Golf Club beat Boston Common Golf 4-3 in the league’s first-ever "overtime." The teams were tied 3-3 after the 15-hole competition, with Kim and Bradley nearly holing birdies that would have won it for either side. Instead, the match would be decided via a best-of-three, closest-to-the-pin playoff. One member of each team squared off directly against another. Jupiter Links’ Kim and Kevin Kisner each hit their shots closer than their competitors – Keegan Bradley and Adam Scott – clinching the victory.
It was a night much anticipated as both the debut of McIlroy’s Boston Common Golf and the first time that McIlroy and Woods faced off against each other in the tech-infused golf league. McIlroy and Woods were matched up in the singles portion of the event, with McIlroy besting Woods with a birdie on the 10th hole. The two tied with par on the 13th hole, the last shot that either player hit.

Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy trade clutch par putts at TGL
“I think the nature of competition is you're going to have some matches that are blowouts and you're going to have some matches that are really tight,” McIlroy said. "I think it was really cool that tonight was one of those matches that was really tight."
It was not McIlroy or Woods who stole the show, though. That was Kim, who brought the same high energy that made him a star at the Presidents Cup. Kim was animated throughout the night, shushing and bowing to the crowd after making putts. On the par-3 12th, Kim stuck it to 2 feet and let out a scream.
It was the version of TGL those involved in standing up the league, Woods and McIlroy included, all envisioned.
“The last two (matches) have been blowouts, but I think today showed that it's getting kind of personal now,” Kim said, “and everyone wants to win.”