Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy’s virtual golf league, Tomorrow Golf League (TGL), has mostly been a hit thus far. The TGL ratings have been steady and far better than LIV Golf, the other alternative to the PGA Tour.
On Monday, the TGL had a great opportunity to shine with a President’s Day triple-header.
The day began with the Bay Golf Club, comprised of 2023 U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark, Min Woo Lee, and fresh off his win at Genesis, Ludvig Aberg. They narrowly defeated the Atlanta Drive Golf Club, 6-5 in a back-and-forth battle.
Shortly after the end of that match, Atlanta had to turn around and square off with the undefeated Los Angeles Golf Club.
The match pitted Atlanta GC captain Justin Thomas, Patrick Cantlay, and Billy Horschel against LA’s Sahith Theegala, Tommy Fleetwood, and Justin Rose.
Los Angeles led 5-2 and nearly closed it out. But Justin Thomas chipped in for a birdie to square the match and send it to overtime. But that is where the controversy stemmed.
The TGL overtime format has all six competitors chip from off of the green. Three points are up for grabs, with golfers going head to head in a closest to the pin challenge.
Atlanta won two of the three challenges and therefore won the match 6-5. However, fans and even some former PGA Tour pros are complaining about an obvious rule change that is needed.
The single overtime point for Los Angeles came when Fleetwood holed out.
Ok hot take… the closest to the pin sudden death format if you were to hole it out (like Tommy did) that should be game over. https://t.co/9gsvP3XduN
— Smylie Kaufman (@SmylieKaufman10) February 17, 2025
Smylie Kaufman took to social media to drop what he called a “hot take.”
“Ok hot take… the closest to the pin sudden death format if you were to hole it out (like Tommy did) that should be game over,” Kaufman captioned. Golf writer Shane Bacon doubled down on the take.
“TGL has been good at adjusting the rules as the season has gone along, but if you hole out in the playoff its gotta be auto-win, right?”
The tech-infused TGL has brought tons of golf innovation to the forefront. From the gigantic screen players hit into, to the real-life sand traps, rough and greens that spin, to the use of the hammar, they thought of almost everything.
But it seems pretty clear they overlooked this rule snafoo.
The two chips that garnered Atlanta the overtime points to win the TGL match were not even that great of chips. They were just a little better than LA’s. But if Fleetwood holes out and the other team cannot duplicate the feat, you’d be hard pressed to find anyone that disagrees that should clinch victory.
The players themselves were acting as though the match was over when Fleetwood’s chip went in. Only time will tell how long it takes Tiger, Rory and the TGL to make the adjustment.
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