TGL takes shape

Another day, another TGL news drop. 

This time, the upstart virtual golf league announced its sixth and final franchise city — Jupiter, Florida. 

Yes, that means alongside New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, and Atlanta, Jupiter — population 60,000 — will have its own TGL team. 

Of course, Jupiter (and the broader Palm Beach area) is unlike any other place on planet Earth — home to an absurd concentration of legendary golfers, including Tiger Woods. 

Woods — who helped spearhead the league alongside Rory McIlroy — will play for the Jupiter Links Golf Club and own part of the franchise. 

Nick’s thoughts: Whether Jupiter should have a team is highly debatable. But so too is the entire concept of attaching cities to these teams and franchises in the first place. 

It’s not like one week teams will square off in San Francisco and another week, they’ll head to New York. Every Monday, TGL players will hit shots into the same, massive simulator at the to-be-completed SoFi Center in South Florida (right next to Jupiter). 

• So, unless you're the Jupiter Links GC, how do you get local fans to feel any affiliation to their teams, especially if the players on those teams have no prior connection to the cities themselves? 

I probably side with golf writer Andy Lack’s take. Basically, what did the TGL have to lose?   

• We’ve seen how incredibly hard it’s been for people to care about golf teams with no regional connections (on LIV), so why not see if this city thing will work? 

As a newly minted Midwesterner, I was admittedly a little bummed (and surprised) that Chicago wasn’t the sixth city announced this week. 

• Does eliciting even the slightest reaction from me mean the city-concept is working already? Maybe. 

• Though, there’s a lot of (virtual) golf left to be played. 

Bermuda Pick ‘Em

For its second-to-last event of the year, the PGA Tour is heading to Bermuda. And while the field is lacking big names, I’m still holding out hope that this surprising run of exciting Fall golf will continue. 

As we did last week, let’s make things a bit more intriguing with our own Quick Nine Pick ‘Em contest. It’s totally free to play along and the person who answers the most questions correctly will win $90. If there’s a tie at the top, we’ll decide the winner by the tie-breaker question. And make sure to get your picks in before midnight tonight (Wednesday). 

Here are the questions (and some context) for this week’s contest: 

1. Will Adam Scott finish inside the top 10? 

Boston Common’s own Adam Scott is this week’s betting favorite at 16-1 to win outright. Can he at least finish inside the top 10? 

Scott won an exhibition match on the same course — Port Royal — back in 2013. Meanwhile, his last finish was a T41 three weeks ago at the Zozo Championship in Japan. 

2. Will Akshay Bhatia finish inside the top 20? 

Already a winner this season on Tour, Bhatia has been steadily improving throughout the Fall since missing the cut at the Fortinet in September. His last four starts — T43, T35, T21, T10. 

Also, Bhatia finished T17 last year in Bermuda. 

3. Will Lucas Glover beat Brendon Todd? 

Brendon Todd is having a sneaky decent season with seven top-10’s and two runner up finishes. And, while he missed the cut the last time he played in Bermuda in 2020, Todd won it the year prior in 2019. 

Meanwhile, Glover’s two-win season this year still demands respect despite his T59 finish last week in Mexico. 

4. Will Matti Schmid beat Matthias Schwab? 

Yes, these are two separate people. 

Honestly, I don’t know anything about these players except that their names sound almost identical. Also, Schmid is 148th in FedEx Cup points this season, while Schwab is 149th. 🤯

5. Will 15-year-old Oliver Betschart beat 15 or more players this week? 

It would be awesome to see the Bermuda prodigy (and last year’s Port Royal club champion) beat up on the old guys this week. 

6. Will at least one of the YouTube brothers (Wesley Bryan or George Bryan) make the cut? 

It’s the first time brothers Wesley and George (who have some 280,000 subscribers on their Bryan Bros Golf YouTube channel) will play in a PGA Tour event together. 

Wesley is the more accomplished professional golfer of the YouTube star siblings, having won 2017 RBC Heritage and currently fighting for his Tour card (192nd in FedEx Cup points). He’s made the cut in four out of his last five events. 

Meanwhile, Bermuda will be George’s first ever PGA Tour start despite a notable collegiate career at South Carolina. 

*Tie Breaker: How many fairways will Adam Long hit this week? (Pick a number between 1-56)

Adam Long went a perfect 56/56 fairways hit last week in Mexico. How many is he going to hit in Bermuda? 

Here’s another link to the form to fill out your picks. And again, make sure you submit them by midnight tonight to be eligible for the $90 cash prize. 

More news

🐸 Boston Common Golf held its media day at Fenway Park on Monday where Rory McIlroy got to throw a couple of pitches and answer questions from local reporters. 

• McIlroy said he hopes the in-person experience for TGL events has a “courtside at a basketball game type of feel.” (AP) 

⏰ TGL said this week matches will have a shot clock (40 seconds), timeouts, and a referee. (Golfweek) 

👀 A Kirkland Signature driver may soon be available at Costco, as it’s now on the USGA and R&A’s conforming club list. (Golf) 

And finally… 

I’ve probably watched this video over 50 times, and I'm still shocked how perfect it is.

Here’s the original Tiger and Scottie Scheffler interaction ICYMI. 

That’s all for today! Good luck on your picks this week, and I’ll see you here next on Sunday night.

Thanks for reading and talk soon! - Nick B.