TGL: Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy’s high-tech indoor golf league to tee off in January

Posted by Admin October 22, 2024 Golf

TGL, the high-tech indoor golf league spearheaded by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, is set to tee off at last on January 7, 2025, after a schedule was released Monday.

Originally slated to begin in January 2023, the televised venture was delayed by two years after the inflatable dome of its custom-built Florida venue – the SoFi Center – collapsed due to a power failure last November.

Six teams comprising 24 mic’d up stars of the PGA Tour will compete across a 15-match regular season at the 1,500-capacity arena in Palm Beach Gardens before the postseason begins, culminating in a best-of-three Finals Series showdown for the SoFi Cup on March 24.

Televised on ESPN, the venture is the brainchild of TMRW Sports – a company co-founded by Woods and McIlroy – and is aiming to attract a younger audience to golf through its virtual course and stadium concept.

McIlroy and Woods hope to bring the game to a new generation. - Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images — McIlroy and Woods hope to bring the game to a new generation. – Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images

Golfers on each four-player team will hit tee and approach shots into a 64-by-53-foot simulator before moving to the GreenZone; a green that can be uniquely rotated and sloped on each hole thanks to a turntable and actuators under its surface.

Tickets for single matches, which are contested over two sessions and 15 holes, start from $160 and will go on public sale from October 29.

The makeup of the teams’ various ownership groups makes for a who’s who of sporting heavyweights, with tennis sisters Serena and Venus Williams, NBA stars Giannis Antetokounmpo and Steph Curry, as well as Liverpool football club owners Fenway Sports Group (FSG), among the backers.

Who is playing?

The January 7 curtain-raiser sees New York Golf Club, headlined by two-time major champion Xander Schauffele, take on The Bay Golf Club.

Schauffele, who scooped both the PGA and Open Championships respectively in a golden 2024, will be joined by fellow Americans Rickie Fowler and Cameron Young, as well as England’s Matt Fitzpatrick, to face off against Sweden’s Ludvig Åberg, Australia’s Min Woo Lee, Ireland’s Shane Lowry and Wyndham Clark of the US.

Woods will be the star attraction of the second match a week later, as his Jupiter Links Golf Club team debuts against the all-American quartet of Atlanta Drive GC: Justin Thomas, Patrick Cantlay, Billy Horschel and Lucas Glover.

The 15-time major winner played all four majors for the first time since his 2021 car crash this season but has not competed since missing the cut at the Open Championship in July.
After undergoing successful back surgery last month, 48-year-old Woods said he hoped to “get back to normal life activities, including golf.”

Woods has not competed since the Open Championship in Scotland in July. - Paul Ellis/AFP/Getty Images/File — Woods has not competed since the Open Championship in Scotland in July. – Paul Ellis/AFP/Getty Images/File

TMRW co-partner and world No. 3 McIlroy will first be in action on matchday four when his Boston Common Golf side competes against Woods’ team. The Northern Irishman and world No. 2 Schauffele represent the highest-ranked players in the competition, owing to the absence of runaway ranking leader Scottie Scheffler.

Norway’s Viktor Hovland and American LIV Golf star Bryson DeChambeau are the other two members of the top-10 not present in the league. Spain’s Jon Rahm had been slated to compete but withdrew last November, and the following month joined LIV Golf – none of whom’s players feature in TGL.