Tiger Woods was a victim to the rules of his own league in TGL week four as he committed a slow play violation.
In a match versus league co-founder Rory McIlroy, Woods took longer than 40 seconds over a putt dispute the descending countdown and booming heartbeat bouncing off the SoFi Centre walls.
“Well, normally I slow my heart rate down before I pull the trigger, so dropping my heart rate down sometimes takes a little bit longer than others,” Woods explained, taking full responsibility. “As I told these guys, it’s on me. I should have called time out as I built in my stance because of the time. But I was dropping my heart rate down like I normally would. It just took too long.”
As groans become louder towards the PGA Tour’s inability to punish slow play adequately, golf’s new simulator golf league punished its owner and the game’s greatest player with a painful shot penalty, four weeks into its existence.
In week one, Shane Lowry confessed his nerves before hitting the inaugural shot of a new golf league run by a sporting icon and his best friend.
The 2019 Open champion found the virtual fairway of The Plank after caressing a drive into the giant TGL simulator screen in front of him, beginning a rampant 9-2 success for The Bay over New York Golf Club.
So began a journey Lowry, neither Woods nor McIlroy, could ever conceive they’d begin.
His nerves were probably down to two large numbers rapidly decreasing on either side of the screen he hit his ball into in the golf utopia of Florida.
For the first time, there is no hiding place for golfers when it comes to pace of play and there will be no hiding place at any TGL match through to the championship game in March.
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Each player has 40 seconds to hit their shots and if they don’t do that, they receive a one-shot penalty. The clock is there for live spectators and sofa sitters to see.
Preaching to the choir could come to mind, but it’s more bellowing to the masses as there is nothing that winds up golf fans more than watching the tortoises on-screen trundle around hitting a 100-yard wedge.
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TGL shot clock is a revelation and will have fans rejoicing
The players show urgency as soon as it was their turn to play, apart from Woods in week four, of course. Pace of play isn’t so much policed but enforced in a dictator fashion. The inclusion of a heartbeat with 15 seconds left on the clock is quite frankly genius.
Before TGL’s January 7 inauguration, Lowry admitted the clock needed some getting used to, but this was without 1,500 eyes beaming down on him as was the case on the opening night, with fans and players alike gazing with intrigue to see how this new concept would play out.
“I wish that was (in) real golf,” Matt Fitzpatrick said after the inaugural match, losing to The Bay as part of New York Golf Club. The former US Open champion has often sounded the ‘one of us’ klaxon when groaning about how slow professional golf is.
“Pathetic that pace of play is spoken about every year and nothing ever gets done,” Fitzpatrick posted to X in November 2024, on the eve of the PGA Tour updating its field sizes.
The advantage of an entirely new golf entity is making entirely new rules. While those who cry for faster golf on the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour know precedent can’t just be ripped up, TGL has immediately provided longed-for relief from the arduous viewing experience on a Sunday that never seems to end.
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The LIV Golf League deserves credit where slow play is concerned too. Adrian Meronk was given a one-stroke penalty for playing slowly in 2024 and Richard Bland has also been penalised before. This is another new world that was created and welcomed what the loud majority have wanted for years.
Pace of play can also be an inadvertent source of banter among players. Perhaps some gentle, or not-so-gentle sledging, aimed at the slimier snails could encourage quicker play in the outdoor world of the PGA Tour.
“Our team is not going to have any trouble with that,” Lowry said of the possibility of shot clock violations. “We’re three of the quicker players out there.”
Those players were Wyndham Clark, the 2023 US Open champion, and Ludvig Aberg who certainly needs no rocket up him to send his balls into the sky.
Regardless of your stance on golf’s new simulator league, we’ll have a round of applause for the shot clock.
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What did you make of the TGL shot clock? Should the TGL shot clock be used on the main tours? Do you watch TGL Golf? Tell us on X!
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