Rose Zhang has jumped out of a plane from 10,000 feet, but hitting the first tee shot in Women’s Team Golf League history proved even more nerve-racking. The American was particularly conscious of avoiding a shot-clock violation, something Tiger Woods had experienced during TGL’s inaugural season in 2025. Zhang did not want her first contribution to the new league to mirror one of its most memorable early mishaps.

Zhang made the admission Sunday night at SoFi Center in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, following New York Golf Club’s 3–1 defeat to Los Angeles in the WTGL’s inaugural match. Asked to compare the pressure of hitting the league’s opening shot with the nerves of her recent skydive, she had little hesitation.

“It was way more nerve-wracking than whatever skydiving I did last week,” Zhang said. “Honestly, standing over the edge of a plane versus being able to hit the first tee shot — I think about the history more when I’m out here.”

The comparison had a recent reference point. Zhang completed a tandem skydive at Lake Elsinore, California, ahead of the 2026 Solheim Cup. But even jumping from 10,000 feet did not match the pressure of stepping up for the first shot in a new league.

WTGL is the women’s counterpart to TGL, the technology-driven indoor golf league co-founded by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy. While TGL features PGA Tour players, WTGL brings together LPGA Tour professionals in a five-team competition built around the same format and SoFi Center venue in Palm Beach Gardens. Each team fields three players per match, with 15 holes divided between alternate-shot triples and head-to-head singles. The inaugural WTGL season opened Sunday on ESPN.

Zhang’s place in the opening moment was no coincidence. New York fielded Zhang, Linn Grant and Lydia Ko against Los Angeles’ Michelle Wie West, Alison Lee and Gaby López. Zhang and Wie West were entrusted with the honor of hitting the first tee shots on Cut the Sails, the opening hole.

But Zhang was also conscious of another way to make league history — a shot-clock violation. When a reporter pointed out that she had sprinted from the team area despite seemingly having enough time to reach the tee, she explained that the urgency was deliberate.

“I told myself I had to get up there as quickly as possible so that I could calm my nerves down over the tee,” she said. “When you’re hitting the first shot, you don’t want to have a time violation.”

“That would be historical. First tee shot, first time violation,” Zhang added.

WTGL’s rules give players 40 seconds to execute a shot once officials determine they are ready to play. A violation carries an automatic one-stroke penalty, making it particularly costly in a format where every hole is worth a point.

Woods had already experienced the consequences in the men’s league. In January 2025, he became the first player penalized for a shot-clock violation in TGL history. The buzzer sounded as he began the backstroke on an eight-foot birdie putt against Rory McIlroy. The penalty cost him the hole, and Woods accepted responsibility afterward.

“It’s on me. I should have called timeout,” he said.

With the same format and rules applying in WTGL, Zhang was keen to avoid a similar moment, especially with the spotlight on her as the first player to hit a competitive shot in the women’s league.

There was another wrinkle to the historic moment. ESPN’s coverage was scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. ET but was delayed until 3:15 p.m. because the Arkansas-Virginia basketball game ran over. Zhang’s opening drive therefore came as the network switched to the inaugural match.

The setting offered little opportunity to escape the attention. Players hit from real turf toward a giant simulator screen inside an arena roughly 100 yards long and 50 yards wide. With approximately 1,500 spectators watching, every shot — and every moment spent preparing for it — becomes part of the spectacle.

For Zhang, the occasion carried additional significance given her own rise in the game. She spent 141 weeks as the world’s top-ranked amateur, won twice individually at Stanford and surpassed a school victories record previously shared by players including Woods. She then won on her LPGA Tour debut in 2023, becoming the first player to achieve that feat since 1951.

The opening match, however, belonged to Los Angeles. Lee, López, and Wie West secured the points in a 3–1 victory, with Wie West narrowly missing what would have been the league’s first hole-in-one. Despite the defeat, the evening delivered the competitive spectacle WTGL hopes to build around, with both teams embracing after the match.

Zhang’s individual contribution also ensured that her place in the league’s history would be a positive one. Her 301-yard drive found the fairway on the 337-yard par-4 Cut the Sails, giving her inaugural tee shot a fitting start.

She may have found skydiving less intimidating, but Zhang successfully negotiated the pressure that came with being first. More importantly, she avoided the one piece of history she had been desperate not to make: following Woods into the TGL record book for a shot-clock violation.