'You can't make this stuff up': TGL Week 4 Wrap as Tiger Woods stuns Rory McIlroy

TGL shone bright on Monday under the bright lights of the SoFi Center. We finally got the heavyweight matchup we’ve all been waiting for in Tiger Woods’ Jupiter Golf Links versus Rory McIlroy’s Boston Common Golf, and who would have thought that they’d never seen each other in a Ryder Cup match before this.

This match had it all, between strong supporting casts of personalities like Tom Kim and his demonstrative crowd antics to Keegan Bradley throwing an early hammer on Tiger on the very first green, this match was rolling on all cylinders.

We are well aware how competitive both alphas Tiger and Rory can be, and even with all the theatrics of the evening, Woods’ competitive drive shone through in a bit of foreshadowing in his pregame interview with ESPN host Scott Van Pelt. Van Pelt’s known Woods since his college days at Stanford and he crafted a fair question about the motivation expected in the needling between himself and McIlroy. Woods was blunt as ever, and conveyed that winning will be the best way to shut up his co-star. And in the end, Woods’ team came through thanks to numerous crowd-pumping moments from rising star Tom Kim.

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If TGL is going to truly thrive, getting the supporting personalities on each team to authentically get the crowd going will be paramount. So far the last couple weeks Sahith Theegala, Billy Horschel and Tom Kim have more than risen to that challenge. In fact, they’ve taken the bull by the horns and given us quite a few highlight clips on social media. Kim was delightful in his ear-cupping reaction to making an early birdie putt, and you can tell that these emotions seem to innately flow out of him.

McIlroy, Bradley and teammate Adam Scott had yet to experience the TGL stage until Monday, and for the four-time major winner the first shot got the juices going.

“My heart was pumping, my legs were a little bit shaky. I’m just happy I somehow put my partner in the fairway,” McIlroy shared during the match with ESPN’s Marty Smith. Bradley minutes later told McIlroy that his knees were shaking over a three-footer on the very next hole.

Crazy how this new setting affects these guys.

Woods showed a poignant side when his boys closed out the match in overtime (a best of three nearest the pin chipping contest). His embrace of Kisner, hand on top of his mates’ head was an image we’ve rarely seen in Ryder Cup and Presidents Cups past, and was revealing as to how much this first win for his mates and in this new league meant to him.

Though the night seemed absent of specific McIlroy versus Tiger banter, Woods still reacted playfully to Rory’s misfortunes-as to be expected at this level. Woods missed a short putt on the opening hole, when Bradley threw the hammer to make Rory’s putt worth twice as much, he couldn’t convert the five footer and so he looked to the ceiling in disgust. Woods then proudly twirled his own hammer flag in the air as he playfully led his boys to the next tee.

The all-time relatable Woods moment came early on though when he spotted him mother Kultida in the crowd.

“Hi mom,” Woods says giddily as he cleaned his grips. “I’ll try not to suck.”

You can’t make this stuff up.

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