The Bay Golf Club 9, New York Golf Club 2
THE MODERATOR: We'll welcome The Bay Golf Club, winners of the inaugural match of TGL presented by SoFi. Starting with you, Shane, you got to hit the first shot in league history. If you could go through what that's like and then we'll ask the other two about the win.
SHANE LOWRY: I'm not going to lie, I was in here before Christmas for the first time, and then yesterday I was coming in last night and I was kind of a little bit nervous about what it was going to be like. Then I got to the first hole and there's like a run-out of like 295 that if I hit a real good one, like a normal one, I can probably reach, and I was like, well, I'm not hitting my 5-wood off the tee. So I'm just hitting driver, the biggest head, and hit a good shot. It was good. It was a pretty cool experience.
It all happens quite quickly when you're out there because it's loud and you're not kind of used to that. But yeah, I enjoyed it. I had an amazing two hours this evening. It's a lot of fun out there and something we're not used to. But it was good.
Q. Wyndham, overall impressions of the night?
WYNDHAM CLARK: I thought it would be a little more of a match, I have to be honest. They were beating us so bad last night when we first started --
SHANE LOWRY: You're going to make us the most hated team.
WYNDHAM CLARK: That's my plan. Last night in the simulation we were down 6-0 after like three holes. We threw a bunch of hammers and they made putts and we didn't know what we were doing, and I think as we learned how to play this, and it is a game, it's not necessarily pure golf, there's a little bit more game and trick to it, and I feel like we got really comfortable with it.
I will say we had a lot of fun. I feel like no one had more fun out there than us. We were laughing. The stuff we were saying in the locker room and to each other is a lot of fun. It's fun being up here with these guys. We're excited to be a part of this.
Q. Ludvig, your impressions of the evening?
LUDVIG ABERG: Yeah, the guys said it. I think it was amazing to be a part of. I think it's the future of golf, and it's really cool to be a part of.
I said it earlier before today, I'm always so jealous of basketball and football guys that they get to do this so much more than we do. It's cool playing in a stadium. The crowd gets going a little bit more. The energy is different from a regular golf tournament. But it's so much fun and gets you going a little bit more, I think.
Q. I know you guys are always trying to improve your golf games and your performance inside the ropes. Is there any element of you're going to watch this back and try and improve as sort of an entertainer or as a performer?
WYNDHAM CLARK: I mean, I think it's so -- as a performer, maybe yes, but I think if you're trying to relate it to real golf, I don't know how much of that there is.
But yeah, we are entertainers, and we're trying to sell ourselves, our team, a company, all those things. So yeah, we probably should look back and review how we look on TV, how we handle certain things, our trash talk, all those different things. Yeah, it probably would be pretty smart of us to do that.
Q. Just wondering how you guys took to the shot clock. Seemed much faster pace than what we're used to. First time we're seeing that in competition.
SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, I think our team is not going to have any trouble with that. I think we're probably three of the quicker players out here, and even for us, there was the odd time where we'd get down to like 10 seconds, 12 seconds left, and when you do see it there, you do kind of -- it does make you rush it a little bit. But I don't think we're going to have any trouble.
But it does happen quickly. That's what we played a practice match last night, and to be honest it was huge because I couldn't believe how quickly everything happened and how quickly you had to go and hit your shot and do everything. But like I said, I think other teams might struggle with it more than we're going to.
Q. I know you're out there and you're having fun and it's entertainment. These guys came in and the first thing we mentioned is how embarrassed they were at the score. How do you balance that entertaining, having fun, but it still is a competition, you guys are professional athletes, and anything you do you compete with each other?
LUDVIG ABERG: Yeah, I think we said it while we were playing. Because it's a total team score line throughout the season, we don't want to lose holes. You really don't want to lose holes. Whether that's here or whether that's on the golf course, it's the same.
We tried to win as many as we could today. We're all competitors and we all like to win. Today I felt like we did a good job of keeping the foot on the pedal. It's easy sometimes to let go and make a few mistakes, but we didn't do that. We kept playing and kept being aggressive --
SHANE LOWRY: I did.
LUDVIG ABERG: No, it was good. Well, maybe that shank, maybe not.
SHANE LOWRY: Toe shank against Rickie. That's what we were like; I was pissed at myself for doing that. We wanted to win -- I said to the boys, let's get to 10 points. When we got ahead and we won the match I was like, let's get to 10 points. We were told when it comes down to the Playoffs if it's like a tiebreaker that it's going to count, so just kind of keep going.
Q. Other than the outcome tonight, what was the biggest surprise for you guys?
WYNDHAM CLARK: Honestly, the amount of putts we made. It's hard to make putts. It's really hard to make putts on the green. Lud, all of us made it look really easy. I know we're all the best players in the world, but you have a 10-footer that breaks two or three different ways and then it slopes 2, 3 percent right behind the cup and you can hit it six feet by. We joked on Lud's putt that he made up the hill, that was unbelievable. I joked with him, you're going to have a second putt for sure, and he was praying it was going to be tap in and then he makes the putt. We thought it was 1 in 1000 chance he made that putt. So probably the putting.
Q. Ludvig, you mentioned that you tell basketball players and football players you're jealous of some things that they get. What elements are you jealous of, and what elements do you think this accomplishes?
LUDVIG ABERG: No, I think it's just the whole stadium environment, to have the crowd going and you have the speakers really loud. Obviously we don't really have that on the golf course. I think it's really cool to be in a crowded environment where the people are literally on top of you and screaming. There's a lot of betting going on, so you'll hear some guy saying, don't miss it, don't do that. I think that's really cool. I think that's what I -- when I watch other sports, that's what I really like, and I'm definitely looking forward to playing more of these so I can experience that a lot more this season.
Q. I think most people who tune in would be amazed at the technology and sort of enjoy the newness of the event. How do you ensure that that continues for the entire season and not just make it something that's a novelty in the first couple of weeks?
SHANE LOWRY: Wow, we've got Tiger Woods next week, so we'll do all right next week, I know that.
But no, I think it comes down to the players, and I think it comes down to who's out there in the arena. Like we said earlier, there is an element of entertainment out there, and even I said to the boys after we finished, like when the match was over after 11 holes, I said, the next half an hour we probably need to be better than we were in the entertainment kind of space, I suppose. I'm not sure if we were, but we did talk about it.
But yeah, so hopefully it goes from strength to strength from here, but I know we'll be all right next week.
Q. For all three of you guys, where do you hope to take this when you look at the bigger picture? Obviously there's a huge curiosity factor tonight and it was a fun show, obviously, but for sustainability, where do you hope to take this and where do you think it will go?
WYNDHAM CLARK: There's a bunch of cool things you could do with this. I feel like the possibilities are almost endless. You can put a stadium in each one of the cities that owns a team. You could change the golf holes to where they're tailor made for The Bay Golf Club so that it's holes just for us, and that's our home course advantage.
There's so many different things you could do. You could obviously make it bigger. There's a lot of stuff you could do.
I think as this continues to grow, and I really think it will, and we get better at playing the game and obviously the trash talking, I think as there start to become rivalries between teams and more banter, I think people are going to enjoy it.
As you guys saw, the SoFi Center is unbelievable. The technology is amazing. We're having a lot of fun. I just hope it translates to viewership, and I think it will. It's the most fun we've ever had playing golf, and I just think people love seeing us have fun and smile, and maybe it gets big, I don't know.
Q. Shane, to follow up on that, I know winning handily is fun, obviously, but when is the last time you had that much fun in competition, and did you have more than maybe you thought you would?
SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, no, honestly I said last night when I got home, because I like everyone else didn't know what this was going to be like, and I came here and I played my first proper like full practice match last night, and I went away going, that was the most fun like two hours I've ever had on the golf course.
The last time I've had that much fun tonight was probably last September. Sorry, Wyndham.
Honestly, for two hours kind of on the golf course -- look, I'm about to set off into my 17th year as a pro or 17th season, and I think some weeks can be like monotonous and tough when it gets to that, but this is just something different and something fun. I love the big weeks and I love playing in front of big crowds, and I really struggle to get up for certain events when the crowd is not so big and the energy is not there. But the energy is going to be here every night we play, and I'm really looking forward to that.
Q. Wyndham, you said one of the things you might look at is trash talk. How would you rate your trash talk tonight?
SHANE LOWRY: He's doing pretty good; he's made us the most hated team out there.
WYNDHAM CLARK: No, I feel like it wasn't that great. There wasn't much to trash talk about. We beat them so bad. We got up so quick, they weren't bantering towards us, so there wasn't much to say.
Q. Is it something you're comfortable doing?
WYNDHAM CLARK: I do it a lot. I would say we play a lot of money games, and my caddie John Ellis and I probably have more banter and bicker at each other I think, almost as much as anybody. I'd say Kais and Xander do a lot of that, and so we're used to it. Let's just say in card games, everything I do, I'm very competitive and I enjoy it. I wouldn't say I had great trash talk tonight, but like I said, there wasn't much to trash talk about; we were beating them so bad.
Q. How was chipping out there? It looked kind of tricky.
WYNDHAM CLARK: He hit a toe shank, so...
SHANE LOWRY: There's certain -- there's grain that comes into play. There's a certain part, it's easy, it's downgrain, but into the grain, honestly, I spent 30 minutes out there today and then I hit that shot this evening, so I was like still trying to figure it out.
The next time I come out here I'll be trying to figure it out again. It's not so much when you're hitting like a long chip shot but like one of the shorter ones. Even Xander kind of flubbed one, as well. It is, when you get that little short shot into the grain. That's why when you're hitting your second shots, we are actually standing there on the screen and going, where do we need to miss this, because it does come into play.
Q. Shane, you mentioned more fun tonight than you've had on a golf course. Did you feel like the fans had fun? Did you feel an energy from them?
LUDVIG ABERG: Yeah, absolutely, I felt that. I felt from the start it was really loud. I think when we all have those walk-out songs, it makes it pretty cool. It's an experience like I said before that we don't really have that often. I don't think I've ever had a walk-out song. I was having a hard time picking one, it was so hard, because I'm not used to getting that question.
But yeah, definitely felt like the crowd was interactive and they were all wanting us to throw the hammer as much as we could. So it was really cool.
Q. Wyndham, at media day you said one of the trickiest things about getting used to the simulator is shots inside 100, the depth perception can be kind of weird. You and Rickie both had shots from 80 or so that either flew the green or went pretty far for you guys. Was that something you're still adjusting to?
WYNDHAM CLARK: Yeah, I judge my wedge distances being able to see the target, so if I have -- like tonight I had a 78-yard wedge shot. I normally would be able to see the flag and go, okay, that's what 78 yards is and I could feel that shot. We only can see 30-some yards to the screen, so it is a little difficult. But that's also part of this. I think part of the strategy is leaving yourself full shots. Shane and I talked about that, it's like, we should leave ourselves full numbers so we can be more accurate.
That's something that I think as we continue to play this we'll get better at because that is probably one of the most difficult things.
Q. "Full Swing" a couple years ago got a lot of unbridled access into the characters in Tour golf. TGL is going to take another step into that with the television product. Who's a character, a Tour professional in TGL that the casual fan is going to learn to love when March comes around?
LUDVIG ABERG: Shane.
WYNDHAM CLARK: Shane Lowry.
LUDVIG ABERG: Everyone already loves Shane, though.
I think Xander. Xander is really funny. He's an unbelievable guy, and he's definitely going to be one of the guys that when you hear him trash talk, when you hear him chat between the holes, I think he did a little bit today up to the booth, and he's definitely going to be one of them that --
SHANE LOWRY: He doesn't give much away when he's playing tournament golf and you see that he's quite a serious character, but even in the locker room and stuff we were having a good time beforehand. Yeah, he's as nice a fella as any.
Q. You were able to use the hammer effectively and then kind of hold it down the stretch. I want to know about the thought process on that decision making. Do you have a designated captain in charge of making those calls?
LUDVIG ABERG: We thought Wyndham was going to be more aggressive.
WYNDHAM CLARK: He took me off the hammer. Last night I threw it every other shot and he got mad at me and he's like, tone down. The father over here said, hey, don't --
SHANE LOWRY: Elder statesman. But there is a --
WYNDHAM CLARK: There's some strategy. Like hey, we're trying to win.
SHANE LOWRY: If you get up, you keep it.
WYNDHAM CLARK: We were up a certain amount of points, and we thought if we threw the hammer and then they hit a great shot and throw the hammer back, next thing you know we lose three or four points and they're right back in it. That's honestly what our strategy was, and I know it didn't maybe make for the best TV because we probably wanted more hammers and people wanted more doubles, and maybe we'll do that more in the future, but it was our first time, we wanted to get a W under the belt, so maybe we'll adjust going forward.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports