Smoke, Serena and a Near Ace: Los Angeles Wins the First WTGL Match Over New York, 3-1

Smoke machines, walkout music, a red carpet and a sold-out room. Women's professional golf has never looked quite like it did Sunday afternoon in Palm Beach Gardens, and for two hours it didn't seem to mind one bit.

WTGL, the indoor team league built on the same blueprint as TGL, the men's simulator league co-founded by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, played its first match at SoFi Center. Los Angeles Golf Club beat New York Golf Club 3-1, per the official WTGL match page (opens in a new tab), giving Michelle Wie West, Alison Lee and Gaby López the first win in league history. No overtime, no comeback, and plenty of noise.

Red Carpet, Smoke and a Full House

The production leaned all the way in. Per the Palm Beach Post (opens in a new tab), the players walked a red carpet into the building and were introduced through smoke to their own walkout music, with some dancing along the way. Field Level Media counted about 1,500 fans, music that never stopped and cheerleaders in the stands, which is about as far from a quiet Thursday morning on the LPGA Tour as golf gets.

The players noticed. Wie West called the crowd electric, and López said the music and energy were something the women almost never get at their regular events. "The music and all the energy that we never get (on the LPGA Tour) … it's amazing," López told the Post.

LPGA commissioner Craig Kessler was there to soak it in. "The moment is unbelievable," Kessler said.

The guest list carried weight, too. Front Office Sports (opens in a new tab) reported that L.A. owners Alexis Ohanian and Serena Williams were in the building, along with New York vice-governor Andy Cohen and former U.S. men's national team star Jozy Altidore, an investor in parent company TMRW Sports. TGL members showed up for their clubs: Rickie Fowler and Alex Fitzpatrick for New York, Sahith Theegala for Los Angeles. Fowler brought his daughters, and before the match he gave Wie West a two-word scouting report when she asked for advice, according to the Post: go straight.

Hammer Early, Putts Late

The format is TGL's, nearly to the letter. Each side sends three players into a 15-hole match, opening with nine holes of triples and finishing with six holes of head-to-head singles. A 40-second shot clock keeps things moving, and each team carries the Hammer, a yellow flag that raises the value of a hole by a point.

Rose Zhang got the honor of hitting the first shot in WTGL history on Cut the Sails, the downhill par-4 opener, and Zhang made it count with a 301-yard drive down the middle, per the Post.

Los Angeles grabbed control almost immediately. CBS12 reported that the team scored the first two points within the opening three holes, and both came on one swing of momentum: López found the green, Wie West left the ball about 16 inches from the cup, and Los Angeles used the Hammer to bank two points on the hole. In a league where a single hole can be worth double, that is the kind of start that dictates the rest of the night.

The signature moment came at No. 7, SOS, a brand-new Nordic-themed par 3 designed by Annika Sörenstam that debuted in the match. From 184 yards, Wie West's 6-iron hit the flagstick flush and rolled about 5 feet away, a whisker from the first ace in league history. "I thought that was definitely in," Wie West said afterward, per the Post. New York saved the hole when Linn Grant rolled in a 23-footer from off the green.

New York did get on the board during triples, and Los Angeles carried a 2-1 lead into the singles, according to Field Level Media.

The singles pairings were billed as the main event: Wie West against Zhang, Lee against Grant and López against Lydia Ko. Los Angeles won the putting battle down the stretch. CBS12 reported that Zhang missed two short putts on the 13th and that Grant's 10-footer on the 14th slid by. Lee then knocked in a 4-foot putt to halve No. 14, which the Post says clinched the match. López and Ko halved the final hole, Caverns, and the official result went in the books as a 3-1 Los Angeles win on Hole 15.

For a franchise that just swept Jupiter Links to win the TGL SoFi Cup in March, the women's side picked up right where the men left off. The regulation win is worth two points in the WTGL standings.

The Hiccups

Opening night was not spotless. The first headache had nothing to do with golf: ESPN was scheduled to go on air at 3 p.m. ET but did not pick up the match until 3:15 because the Arkansas-Virginia men's basketball game ran long, according to Front Office Sports. Zhang's historic opening drive landed right as the broadcast switched over. TGL dealt with similar overruns in its first two seasons, so this one will feel familiar to anyone who watched the men.

The second came on the simulator itself. On the 13th hole, a 98-yard wedge from Wie West landed near the pin and spun back much farther than she expected, and she let her teammates hear about it. "That wasn't a spinny shot. That wasn't a spinny shot. That was a low shot," Wie West said, per Golfmagic (opens in a new tab). Afterward she was measured about the technology, calling it pretty accurate and saying it's definitely a learning curve, especially on short shots, shots from the rough and shaped shots. Some TGL players have had their own disputes with how the Full Swing simulator reads shots, per Front Office Sports.

None of the coverage reported anything bigger than those two. For a first night with brand-new holes, a brand-new roster of players and a rotating green, that is a clean run.

Why It Matters

Wie West came out of retirement for this, and you could hear what it meant to her. "It feels really surreal," Wie West said on ESPN after the match, per Front Office Sports. Wie West also admitted, per the Post, "I was actually really nervous." Lee pointed to the exposure, telling Front Office Sports that getting more TV time for the players is amazing.

New York's stars made the same case from the losing side. Grant called it a special platform for players to show who they are outside their regular events, and Ko said, per the Post, "I think it brings potentially a different demographic to watch the game."

There is a real business case behind the vibes. The five teams of five players are chasing an $11 million season-long purse, and the league is built for prime-time TV on ESPN, ABC, ESPN2 and Ion. Justin Kutcher called Sunday's match alongside on-field analyst Emilia Doran, with Taylor Tannebaum on the ESPN sideline. No viewership figure for the debut has been released yet. For reference, TGL averaged 498,000 viewers in its first season, per Front Office Sports.

The one cloud is who isn't there. World No. 1 Nelly Korda passed on the first season after criticizing the decision to build a separate women's league instead of adding women to TGL. If the product keeps landing like it did Sunday, that conversation will only get louder.

What's Next

The schedule moves fast. Los Angeles is right back at SoFi Center on Tuesday, Nov. 10, at 8 p.m. ET on Ion against Motor City Golf Club, which makes its debut with Jeeno Thitikul, Ruoning Yin and Lexi Thompson in the lineup, per the WTGL preview (opens in a new tab). Wie West returns for Los Angeles alongside Aki Iwai and Kiara Romero. New York is back on Sunday, Nov. 29, against Boston Common Golf in the first match of an ABC doubleheader.

The 10-match round robin wraps Dec. 15, the top four teams move on to semifinals Dec. 20 and 21, and the best-of-three Finals are set for Dec. 22 and 23. Sunday was the opening act. If the near ace on SOS was any preview, nobody is going to want to look away.

Sources: WTGL, Palm Beach Post, Front Office Sports, Field Level Media, CBS12, Golfmagic, The Golf Wire. More WTGL coverage on Undrafted.

Photo Credit: WTGL.