Netflix’s first-ever live sporting event paired Formula One drivers from Drive to Survive and PGA Tour golfers from Full Swing to hit the links at the Wynn Golf Club at Wynn Las Vegas.
The competition started at 3 p.m. PT/6 p.m. ET, and consisted of four two-player teams: Lando Norris of McLaren Racing and Rickie Fowler teed off against Carlos Sainz of Scuderia Ferrari and Justin Thomas, and Alex Albon of Williams Racing and Max Homa competed against Pierre Gasly of BWT Alpine F1 Team and Tony Finau. The pairs went head-to-head in match play over eight holes, and you had better believe it was a high-speed affair — this is golf meets F1, after all.
A star-studded broadcast crew guided us through the action. Kay Adams, the former host of NFL Network’s Good Morning Football, headed a commentator’s panel featuring PGA golfer and self-deprecating everyman Joel Dahmen, Super Bowl champion running back Marshawn Lynch, and comedian Bert Kreischer, who kept a loose atmosphere in the booth after the release of his Netflix special Razzle Dazzle earlier this year.
After a truly gripping game, Carlos Sainz and Justin Thomas won the first-ever Netflix Cup.
“Cool as ice,” Sainz said of his partner in an interview with Kreischer after the victory. “When he needed to make the shot he nailed it, like he’s done all day, really.”
“I didn’t honestly think I could get it there, cause I thought Tony’s [shot] was gonna be nice, so I just hit a little sling hook in there,” Thomas said. “I was glad to finally help my partner out.”
“We are the first-ever Netflix cup winners so it deserves… yeah, we’ll go out [tonight],” Sainz said with a grin.
The winners started their night out by spraying champagne all over a shirtless Kreischer and sipping some bubbly themselves out of the championship trophy, providing a fitting end to what was a chaotic game of golf.
Here’s how it all went down.
The Netflix Cup may be a golf competition, but the tee off vibes may have felt more familiar to F1 fans. Kreischer conducted an F1-style grid walk before tee time, chatting with the event’s competitors and some of the celebrities set to observe the proceedings, including Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Davante Adams and Mark Wahlberg. Albon admitted to Kresicher that he was more nervous than he typically is before an F1 race. Before long, it was time to embark on what Adams described as “the most chaotic hole the game of golf has ever seen.”
The opening hole of The Netflix Cup more closely resembled a hectic opening lap than a dawdling stroll down the fairway. After Norris, Fowler, Sainz, and Thomas hit their first shots on the par-3 hole, each team hopped into their golf carts and bolted down the track — errr, path — to get their balls in the hole first. Interestingly, Fowler was behind the wheel of his cart rather than Norris — you know, the guy who’s actually paid to drive.
In a mad dash, all four players converged on the hole at the same time, Fowler missed a short putt, and Norris was disqualified for picking up his ball, allowing Sainz to recover just in time to sink his ball first and earn the point for his team.
The second grouping was far more straightforward (perhaps some lessons were learned as the chaos unfolded). Finau impressively sank a clutch putt on just his second stroke of the hole, putting him and Gasly ahead of Homa and Albon.
The second hole gave the players a stunning view of Sphere, which sits just outside the edge of the Wynn Golf Club course. The 580,000 square feet of LED displays turned into a gigantic massive emoji, reacting in real time to their shots. Just like the audience watching live at home, Sphere went on an emotional journey watching the players attempt to get their balls closer to the hole, with reactions ranging from astonished to awestruck to deeply disappointed.
Neither pairing of the first group seemed too distracted by Sphere’s watchful eyes, as they both impressively combined for eagles on the par-5, 515-yard hole, keeping Thomas and Sainz 1-up on Fowler and Norris.
Homa and Albon followed by beating Finau and Gasly to even things up in the second group.
Hole 3’s Amex Long Drive Challenge presented an opportunity for teams to gain a major advantage over their opponents. The player with the longest shot off the tee in each head-to-head matchup earned a mulligan for his team to use at any point on hole 3 or hole 4.
Thomas launched his drive 327 yards to win the mini competition in the first foursome — and the Thomas-Sainz duo immediately used their mulligan after they both went a little long on their following approach shots. It proved to be the right move, as Sainz sank the ensuing birdie putt to match Fowler and maintain his team’s one-hole lead.
In the second group, Finau hit the longest drive, but he and Gasly elected to save their mulligan for hole 4 as both groups made par to keep things all squared.
After Finau and Gasly both shanked their second shots on hole 4, the six-time PGA Tour winner made excellent use of their mulligan and got his do-over to the fringe of the green — an impressive feat on the par-5, 573-yard hole. But, neither could sink an eagle putt and both groups carded birdies to halve the hole and tie.
The first pairing also halved hole 4 to keep Thomas and Sainz 1-up on Fowler and Norris, and they ended up extending that advantage on what could qualify as the competition’s most daunting hole.
Golfers are used to hitting their shots in silence and on their own time — in other words, they’re not accustomed to a 13-foot doll with a head that rotates 360 degrees staring them down. But at The Netflix Cup, that’s exactly what happened: The “Red Light, Green Light” doll from Squid Game greeted athletes beside the box at hole 5. Players were only allowed to tee off when she was looking away.
But why did the ever-watchful doll make an appearance? Squid Game: The Challenge, a reality competition series based off the widely acclaimed scripted series, is set to premiere Nov. 22 and will feature 456 players competing for $4.56 million — the most prize money ever handed out to the winner of a reality show.
And just like the show, the stakes at The Netflix Cup were high: If any player hit a hole in one on the par-3 hole, $4.56 million would be donated to charity. Sadly, no one made the hole-in-one, but no one violated the red light rule, either — and as a result, $456,000 was donated to the Las Vegas Grand Prix Foundation, whose Million Meals Project provides at least one million meals to communities in need.
Thomas and Sainz finished hole 6 up two points, with two holes to go against Fowler and Norris. The pair earned their tiebreaker by winning the speed round on hole 1, clinching their spot in the final.
Meanwhile, Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs QB and star of Quarterback, stopped by the broadcast and threw his support behind the fellow T-Mobile sponsored Finau and his partner Gasly. Finau promptly delivered on Mahomes’ confidence by sinking a clutch putt back on hole 5, putting his team 1-up on Homa and Albon. However, Homa and Albon took advantage of a couple of wayward drives by their opponents on hole 6 to win a point and tie once again ahead of the final two holes.
With their tiebreaker from the hole 1 speed round, Finau and Gasly had an opportunity to close out the match by winning the par-4 hole 7. Unfortunately, Finau came up just short on his putt. Granted, that green was tricky and full of small slopes, but that meant everything was left on the line for the final hole.
Homa and Albon needed to beat their opponents’ score to advance to the final due to Finau and Gasly’s tiebreaker advantage. But with the pressure on, Finau launched a majestic drive that landed even with the hole on the edge of the bunker roughly 370 yards away to put him and his partner in position to advance. From there, it was only a matter of time until Homa and Albon conceded the hole after struggling to find the green, landing Finau and Gasly in the playoff final.
Thomas and Sainz lost the Vegas-themed dice roll that opened the playoff final to decide who would shoot first, but it didn’t matter. Thomas finished the closest-to-the-pin competition by parking a beauty of a shot no less than five yards from the cup on the par-3 hole, easily clinching the victory.
Both pairings had won this hole in their respective groups in a speed round to open the day, but only one could emerge victorious this time around. And after Finau’s attempt landed roughly 20 yards from the pin, Thomas came up in the clutch to claim the trophy and checkered jackets for him and Sainz, who emerged as the thoroughly deserving winners of the first-ever Netflix Cup.
