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Los Angeles win WTGL opener as Wie West questions simulator
Los Angeles beat New York 3–1 in the first WTGL match. Michelle Wie West argued with the screen over a 98-yard wedge and came within five feet of an ace on Annika Sörenstam's new par 3.
Michelle Wie West’s Los Angeles Golf Club beat New York Golf Club 3–1 in the first WTGL match on Sunday night at the SoFi Center in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Alison Lee holed from four feet to halve the 14th and clinch the match, The Palm Beach Post reported. New York’s Rose Zhang had hit the league’s first shot, a 301-yard drive.
Wie West’s 98-yard wedge to the 13th spun back on the screen further than she expected. “That wasn’t a spinny shot. That wasn’t a spinny shot. That was a low shot,” she said. GolfMagic reported that she later called the tracking “pretty accurate but obviously it’s different”, and said short shots, shots from the rough and shaped shots were the hardest to judge. The league tracks every shot with Toptracer cameras and Full Swing KIT radar launch monitors.
At the 7th she came within five feet of the league’s first hole-in-one. The hole is SOS, the par 3 Annika Sörenstam designed for the league with a replica Swedish warship between tee and green. Wie West’s 184-yard tee shot hit the virtual flagstick. “I felt there was no way that was not going in,” she said. New York’s Linn Grant, playing in knee-high boots, got up and down at the same hole from 23 feet off the green.
Los Angeles led 2–1 after the nine holes of alternate shot. About 1,500 people watched in the arena. Lydia Ko, New York’s third player, said the format “brings people that don’t necessarily turn on Golf Channel every week”.
The 25 players in the league share an $11 million purse. Los Angeles play again on Tuesday 10 November, against Lexi Thompson and Jeeno Thitikul’s Motor City Golf Club, at 8pm Eastern (01:00 GMT on Wednesday) on ION.
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