Xander Schauffele was on the receiving end of boos from golf fans after an embarrassing moment at the inaugural edition of TGL, with the American making a brutal admission
Golf star Xander Schauffele didn’t blame the crowd for jeering him following a fluffed chip shot at the first-ever TGL event. Schauffele, 31, was in action for New York Golf Club in a face-off with The Bay in the TGL, an innovative contest dreamt up by golfing greats Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.
The premiere showdown took place inside SoFi Center in Palm Beach, Florida, on Tuesday. Yet, Team New York, featuring Schauffele alongside Rickie Fowler and Matt Fitzpatrick, found themselves on the wrong end of a humiliating 9-2 thrashing by Shane Lowry, Wyndham Clark, and Ludvig Aberg.
Schauffele’s day turned sour on the 12th when he opted for a pitching wedge from the green and sent his ball flying off the back.
The double major champ and Tokyo 2020 Olympic gold medallist faced a chorus of boos on what turned out to be a vexing day, but he acknowledged that he’d have joined in the booing himself. “I probably would have booed me too,” Schauffele quipped later on.
This blunder follows Schauffele’s recent decision to tweak his swing under the guidance of famed coach Chris Como. Schauffele has conceded that while the adjustments still feel like his own swing, they’re somewhat alien to him.
“Everything I was working on with Chris still feels like my swing, but it’s still something that’s a little bit uncomfortable,” he remarked.
“As long as I’m producing good shots I feel the confidence to keep moving in the right direction, and obviously I got a lot of confidence after some results last year. There are certain times when you’re trying to push your swing to a certain place or you stack two or three good weeks in a row and you feel really good.”
The 15-hole match concluded swiftly, lasting less than two hours, with The Bay triumphing over New York 9-2, sealing victory with five holes to spare. Woods expressed his elation about the success of the format, “This was just a dream conjured up,” he revealed on the ESPN broadcast.
“Rory and I were talking about it; it’s hard to believe that dream came into reality, and we were able to take golf into another stratosphere, really.
“It’s not traditional golf, yes. But it is golf. And that’s the main thing,” Golf enthusiasts can anticipate Tiger Woods making his first TGL appearance on the Jupiter Links team next week. With eyes set on January 14 to see Woods in action, McIlroy’s spectators might need to hold on until January 27, which is when Boston Common takes on Jupiter Links.
The competition heats up as TGL’s regular season is set to continue until March 4, propelling the top four teams towards the playoffs, culminating in an exciting best-of-three championship series right before The Masters.