Tiger is crying laughing after Kevin Kisner skulled it out of the bunker 😂 pic.twitter.com/vk0esrNPZ6

— ESPN (@espn) January 15, 2025

Kisner, my gosh. If I didn't know who he was id swear that was a random fan they pulled from the crowd. Just awful.

Can't keep having blowouts.

They're treating it too much like real golf. The crowd needs to be loud like a real sporting event. Make noise and try to distract them when they're hitting. The holes need to be more ridiculous. Lean all the way in to this being a new sport.

I like that idea. I think that arena was half full last night. Not good considering it was Tiger's debut. So fix the crowd by making them a part of the show. Go all in on "not real golf"

Bunk Moreland said:

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aggiebonzo said:

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Bunk Moreland said:

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Product so far is very bad.

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We get it. You don't like it so quit watching. If you treat this like a serious sport you're going to be underwhelmed but as an entertainment product it's got potential. Very unfortunate both matches have been blowouts because it's lost steam after hole 5 or 6. I think it could get really fun in a close match. They need to fix the hammer. That's starting to compound some of these ass beatings.

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I'm not treating it like a serious sport. I want to like it for a light offseason golf product to watch on boring midweek nights. Just like a new show I'm hoping will end up being good, I'm going to stick it out a while to see if it can find its legs. It's also a discussion board so I'm pretty sure you can live with someone not agreeing with you.

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I can easily live with it but each week you have posted how bad is it and I'm fairly sure you were one of the resident LIV bots pumping how great that product was on TV so your takes are questionable to say the least.

I still have yet to watch, and judging by the comments here it seems I haven't missed anything

AustinCountyAg said:

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I still have yet to watch, and judging by the comments here it seems I haven't missed anything

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You see the pros in a different element but the level of golf by some is......bad. Especially Kisner. Guy plays like that and he wont make one cut this year

I watched some last night but got distracted and didn't stick with it.

I enjoy it. It's different so it's intriguing.

I think the big takeaway for me is that it's fun. It's professional Top Golf.

Mr.Bond said:

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AustinCountyAg said:

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I still have yet to watch, and judging by the comments here it seems I haven't missed anything

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You see the pros in a different element but the level of golf by some is......bad. Especially Kisner. Guys plays like that and he wont make one cut this year

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hell, is game has been trending that way for a couple years. I love me som Kiz, but I never did understand why, or how he even got involved in this with his current form past few years.

aggiebonzo said:

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Bunk Moreland said:

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aggiebonzo said:

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Bunk Moreland said:

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Product so far is very bad.

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We get it. You don't like it so quit watching. If you treat this like a serious sport you're going to be underwhelmed but as an entertainment product it's got potential. Very unfortunate both matches have been blowouts because it's lost steam after hole 5 or 6. I think it could get really fun in a close match. They need to fix the hammer. That's starting to compound some of these ass beatings.

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I'm not treating it like a serious sport. I want to like it for a light offseason golf product to watch on boring midweek nights. Just like a new show I'm hoping will end up being good, I'm going to stick it out a while to see if it can find its legs. It's also a discussion board so I'm pretty sure you can live with someone not agreeing with you.

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I can easily live with it but each week you have posted how bad is it and I'm fairly sure you were one of the resident LIV bots pumping how great that product was on TV so your takes are questionable to say the least.

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LIV bot? For seeking enjoyable golf content? That's interesting.

Also, if you're so concerned with little o'l me saying TGL isn't good so far on a thread, where are you to also police the LIV threads from all the people who don't watch but just can't help themselves to pot shot and spam LIV threads with their opinions?

Get over yourself dude.

I want nothing more than for this to be good so I can have something fun to watch during a boring sports time of the year. So far it's been awkward as hell.

The hammer needs to change. The fact it's actually a flag they have to throw is silly on TV. And it should only be available in certain situations or scores.

I still think it's entertaining. I do think they could shorten it to 12 holes and I'd also provide more bet scenarios than just the hammer.

Mr.Bond said:

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AustinCountyAg said:

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I still have yet to watch, and judging by the comments here it seems I haven't missed anything

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You see the pros in a different element but the level of golf by some is......bad. Especially Kisner. Guy plays like that and he wont make one cut this year

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Well considering he's now NBC's lead analyst he won't be making any cuts because hes not playing.

Get rid of the intermission too. It ran 20 mins long last night. It also brings the action to a standstill.

I do think they need to pick a lane. They seem to still be waffling between trying to lean in to just a bunch of the best players in the world playing on a cool simulator, or is it a legitimate competitive event. You have Matt Barrie in the booth hyping this up with every hyperbole he can find on how incredible, and what a moment etc.

Also far as the broadcast is concerned... stick to golf people. They put Serena Williams in the booth for 15(!!!) minutes. She admittedly almost instantly she knows nothing about golf.

The Milkman said:

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Mr.Bond said:

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AustinCountyAg said:

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I still have yet to watch, and judging by the comments here it seems I haven't missed anything

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You see the pros in a different element but the level of golf by some is......bad. Especially Kisner. Guy plays like that and he wont make one cut this year

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Well considering he's now NBC's lead analyst he won't be making any cuts because hes not playing.

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Hes doing both

Kiz is great

The more Kiz the better

98Ag99Grad said:

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Kisner, my gosh. If I didn't know who he was id swear that was a random fan they pulled from the crowd. Just awful.

Can't keep having blowouts.

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Hell they should just go that way. Pro teams of 2 and then they pick a random spectator out of the crowd as the 3rd member. Watching some business bro skull one over the green into the crowd brings the drama

If yall didn't watch last night or haven't seen it yet today, Tiger laughing at Kisner was one of the best things I've ever seen out of that guy. He's always so stoic in public. Seeing him cry laugh and talking about Kisner nearly killing a guy had me rolling. So did Max Homa begging for them to throw the Hammer cause they were losing so bad.





I haven't found the clip yet, but they were interviewing Tiger afterwards about them getting crushed, and he said something like "I don't think we could break 100 today. I think we've put 5 in the hazard, and Kis almost killed a guy" and I lost it.

wangus12 said:

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98Ag99Grad said:

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Kisner, my gosh. If I didn't know who he was id swear that was a random fan they pulled from the crowd. Just awful.

Can't keep having blowouts.

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Hell they should just go that way. Pro teams of 2 and then they pick a random spectator out of the crowd as the 3rd member. Watching some business bro skull one over the green into the crowd brings the drama

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I agree that they should incorporate an amateur (and their stats and hcp) for at least some of the events. Make a few of the events and teams pro/am's and do like the YouTube guys and pull in the rando that hit it over Brysons house.

I love it so far. I'll keep watching. Would love them to make the holes a little crazier, and to add a little more options with hammering and stuff (more gambling options for them, maybe something with one mulligan per round, whatever). But it's fun.

schwabbin said:

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wangus12 said:

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98Ag99Grad said:

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Kisner, my gosh. If I didn't know who he was id swear that was a random fan they pulled from the crowd. Just awful.

Can't keep having blowouts.

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Hell they should just go that way. Pro teams of 2 and then they pick a random spectator out of the crowd as the 3rd member. Watching some business bro skull one over the green into the crowd brings the drama

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I agree that they should incorporate an amateur (and their stats and hcp) for at least some of the events. Make a few of the events and teams pro/am's and do like the YouTube guys and pull in the rando that hit it over Brysons house.

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Not disagreeing at all but that rando that hit the hole in one was probably a scratch or better golfer based on that swing of his. His very first swing, I was like, ok this dude is a real golfer.

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I do think they need to pick a lane. They seem to still be waffling between trying to lean in to just a bunch of the best players in the world playing on a cool simulator, or is it a legitimate competitive event

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I agree. Having Kisner hit any more shots makes it non-serious for me. That was just bad. I love the tech and wish this was actually something I could do myself, but not really in to watching these guys so far. This was basically created as a reward to guys for not going to LIV, so unless they take it serious, why would anyone watching? There has to be a hook to keep people interested.

I think it's their attempt to answer the surge in Youtube golf popularity as much (or more) than it is about LIV. I don't know if they actively discourage their players to stay off Youtube, but it's clear LIV has leaned into it.

Bryson has basically revamped his entire image using his channel. Ian Poulter and Henrik Stenson just did a match against the Good Good guys branded in "Majesticks" gear and on their team channel. Phil Mickelson has now put out a couple of videos playing 1 on 1 against Bryson, Grant Horvat, and the Bryan Bros.

It feels like the PGA Tour brass saw how popular Youtube golf is, saw how players were putting themselves out there more for their personalities to be shown, and wanted a vehicle to try and get more of that out there for their own guys but still be in control of the content. The problem a lot of yall are articulating is that it's half Youtube golf goof around and half competition.

I hope they figure it out because I've enjoyed the product. It just needs to be more intimate and less sportsy. Just go ahead and embrace the "Basketball" nature of it, make it about purses, gambling, and goofing around, and quit trying to act like there are serious emotional stakes. It's not that kind of event and never will be.

I like it so far. Would like to see them continue to make some changes here and there, but it's a good start to something different.

98Ag99Grad said:

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Quote:

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I do think they need to pick a lane. They seem to still be waffling between trying to lean in to just a bunch of the best players in the world playing on a cool simulator, or is it a legitimate competitive event

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I agree. Having Kisner hit any more shots makes it non-serious for me. That was just bad. I love the tech and wish this was actually something I could do myself, but not really in to watching these guys so far. This was basically created as a reward to guys for not going to LIV, so unless they take it serious, why would anyone watching? There has to be a hook to keep people interested.

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See, I'm the opposite. I already have an outlet for serious, competitive golf. It'll be less interesting to me if they try and make it "PGAey."

They're doing both though. Its being marketed as a serious event but you can clearly see its not. so which is it in the end? I have no issue either way but don't tell me its this great competition when all its been so far is a giant video game. That's why I want them to go all in one way or the other. They're kinda in limbo right now with how its marketed vs the presentation.

reading the thread on golfwrx is pretty interesting. Some highlights below from the thread there

1. Apparently they are paying the "celebs" in the crowd to be there.
2. The simulator was malfunctioning a lot last night. Very bad look for the whole premise if they can't even get that right.
3. Watching Scott Van Pelt doing highlights during intermission reminded me of a scene out of Baseketball.



I just watched about 30 minutes for the first time and I just don't get it. Everything seems forced and very corny.

The announcers + Van Pelt stuff is what is so weird to me. It's like 50% trying to make it the biggest thing and 50% "cmon let's have fun and just jack around".

As said on the thread, choose a lane. And tell Barrie to be quiet. And stop paying for celebs to show up and act like they're so excited to be there.

And if the lane they ultimately choose is have fun, then they should not only get crazier with holes, but have holes where all the players can only use one club, etc.

98Ag99Grad said:

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They're doing both though. Its being marketed as a serious event but you can clearly see its not. so which is it in the end? I have no issue either way but don't tell me its this great competition when all its been so far is a giant video game. That's why I want them to go all in one way or the other. They're kinda in limbo right now with how its marketed vs the presentation.

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I think ESPN is screwing it up because they forgot how to have fun and be funny. I know he's dead to the PGA tour, but you need someone like David Farhety out there, talking trash, and making people laugh. I don't mind Matt Barrie or Marty Smith for the most part, but Barrie is trying to be quasi-serious when the players aren't, and Smith is running the same schtick with the same energy level he does on that show before Gameday.

It's like them trying to make people care about the new NBA mid-season tournament. Nobody cares. Nobody thinks it's important, and you can't make me change my mind just by telling me it's important over and over again.

Are we talking LIV?? I'm in