CNN – When Ferrari Formula One driver Carlos Sainz grabbed the first “Netflix Cup,” he watched in dismay as it fell out of them.
At the Wynn Golf Club in Las Vegas on Tuesday, the Spaniard and two-time PGA Championship champion Justin Thomas prevailed in the streaming service’s inaugural live sporting event, defeating three other driver duos from the PGA Tour and Formula One.
Tragic events quickly followed Sainz and Thomas, who had won a closest-to-the-pin match on the last hole in black-and-white checkered flag-themed outfits against Alpine driver Pierre Gasly and Tony Finau, a late replacement for the injured Collin Morikawa.
Sainz was talking to the American while holding a bottle of champagne in his other hand when the cup fell out of his grasp. Finau gathered up the broken pieces of the prize at his feet, giggling, as the driver remained bewildered, hands on his head.
During the event, Netflix combined two of its most popular sports documentaries: “Full Swing” was represented by American quintet Thomas, Finau, Rickie Fowler, and Max Homa, while “Drive to Survive” was represented by Sainz, Gasly, Lando Norris, and Alex Albon of McLaren.
Joel Dahmen, a star of the PGA Tour, joined comedian Bert Kreischer, sportscaster Kay Adams, and former NFL running back Marshawn Lynch, who won a Super Bowl, as the hosts.
Prior to the game, Thomas remarked, “We experience situations every week with Pro-Ams and people that play golf for fun and recreational purposes who think they might expect to be better than they are or should be.”
However, these men don’t play golf, and if they did, we would be terrible at what they do.
They will have far more skill at golf than we would have in driving. This is where we come to have fun.
Racing was incorporated into the initial matches, which were held in advance of Sunday’s inaugural Formula One Grand Prix in Las Vegas. Teams were to finish a hole as quickly as possible, regardless of strokes. To get to their balls, teams manoeuvred golf carts along a predetermined “racetrack” on the fairway.
The fifth hole featured “Squid Game,” another one of Netflix’s most well-known series. Players of the graphically adapted South Korean children’s game “Red Light, Green Light” had to wait for a massive animatronic doll to turn away before teeing off in order to avoid a penalty. The game was adapted from the popular drama. The PGA Tour promised a charity payment of $4.56 million if a player made a hole-in-one, however, no one was able to accomplish this.
During the competition, a picture of the “Squid Game” doll was projected onto the $2.3 billion Sphere arena in Las Vegas, which is located in the middle of the Grand Prix track.
Over a hundred thousand people are anticipated to attend what Formula One has dubbed the “single largest special event in Las Vegas history.” However, due to Red Bull’s Max Verstappen finishing third in his driver’s championship with six races remaining, ticket prices have dropped.