PGA Tour star Justin Thomas offers blunt response to TGL critics

Justin Thomas says he didn't truly didn't know what to expect from TGL but he has been 'pleasantly surprised' by what he has seen so far.

Thomas will make his debut in in Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy's hi-tech league next week when his team, Atlanta Drive, takes on New York. 

The first two matches in TGL have been one-sided, with The Bay routing New York 9-1 on opening night and Woods' Jupiter Links whitewashed 12-1 by Los Angeles on Tuesday. 

Related:

• TGL results in full

"When is the last time you saw Tiger just getting his a** kicked that bad and was smiling that much?" Thomas told reporters in his news conference ahead of The American Express. 

"I mean, obviously it wouldn't happen if he was playing this week, but there's something to be said for that, right? 

"I understand it's competitive, and we're competitive and we all want to win, but at the same time like it's different. 

"It's a simulator golf league, like this isn't the realest thing in the world."

The first TGL broadcast pulled in 919,000 average viewers on ESPN. 

Woods' debut saw a 9 per cent increase, with the new venture clearing one million viewers. 

Thomas told reporters he had no idea if the concept was going to truly take off. 

In all honesty time will tell if TGL proves to be a success. 

McIlroy and Woods' business partner, Mike McCarley, is already talking about expanding to new venues and potentially recruiting LIV Golf players. 

"I've been pleasantly surprised," Thomas said. "I don't want to say that in a sense of like I thought it wasn't going to do well.

"But I just, I truly didn't know. I think all of us went into this like I don't know how it's going to be, this is totally different, how is it. 

"I've really enjoyed watching it, and the coolest thing for me is and I mean, I'm sure can relate to this, but I just, I cannot ever, I can't think of a time where I've seen six golfers have that much fun, so like that's, to me, that's a good sign."

McIlroy fans will have to wait until 27 January to see how the four-time major champ fares in TGL. 

His Boston Common Golf will take on Jupiter Links. 

He was asked who TGL is for in his news conference ahead of the Hero Dubai Desert Classic. 

McIlroy said it was to 'try and engage' a younger demographic into the game, adding: "We're certainly not trying to replace tournament golf. 

"This is hopefully going to be complimentary to what we do week-in, week-out, and if we can get some more younger people and people, that sort of TikTok generation into the game of golf and condense it into a bite-size version that they can enjoy and relate to in another way, that's really what we are trying to do here.

"Look, we obviously understand that this is very different than anything that's been done before, and we also understand it's not going to be for everyone.

"So if you're a complete traditionalist of the game, it's probably not for you, but that's fine. 

"That's not the audience that we're going for."

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