Tiger Woods has made TGL history after he became the first player to break a rule he helped create.
The shock rule break occurred on the tenth hole as Woods’ Jupiter Links GC took on Boston Common GC.
Woods was steadying himself ahead of his attempt to sink an eight-foot putt on the green at the SoFi Center in Florida.
But before he could even tap the ball, a loud buzzer sounded as members of Boston Common GC began to celebrate.
It was because Woods had not hit his ball inside the allotted 40 seconds on the shot clock, making him the first player in TGL history to commit a shot-clock violation.
As a result, the 15-time major winner was handed an automatic one-stroke penalty.
The penalty meant Woods could not match Boston’s Rory McIlroy, who had carded a birdie on the hole.
Woods cut a frustrated figure as he walked away having allowed Boston to take a 2-1 lead.
The 15-time major winner pointed to a key element of his pre-shot routine as the reason why he fell foul of the 40-second shot timer.
“Normally I slow my heart rate down before I pull the trigger,” Woods said.
“So dropping my heart rate down sometimes takes a little bit longer than others.
“As I told these guys, it’s on me. I should have called time out as I built in my stance because of the time.
“But I was dropping my heart rate down like I normally would. It just took too long.”
Luckily for Woods, he was able to atone for his error just three holes later.
A seven-foot putt from the 49-year-old on the 13th hole ensured he and McIlroy split it, as Jupiter Links led with just two holes remaining.
But Boston Common’s Adam Scott won the 14th over Kevin Kisner to level the scores at 3-3.
With both teams tied at the end of 15 holes, it forced the match into overtime which would be decided by a sudden-death pitch-off.
The pitch-off would be decided by which player was closest to the pin.
Jupiter Links’ Tom Kim landed his effort just over 10 feet away from the pin, beating Boston Common’s Keegan Bradley who was 26 feet away.
Kisner sealed a 4-3 victory for Jupiter Links with his shot that was 14 feet from the pin as Adam Scott could not better it for Boston Common, hitting his shot 21 feet away.
The win was Jupiter Links’ first of the season having lost to Los Angeles GC in their opener.
As for Boston Common, their inaugural match went down as a loss.
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