By Rahul Banerji
All of a sudden, the professional men’s golf scene is beginning to look like an overcrowded city bus, the latest to join in being the simulator-based league TGL promoted by Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and sports executive Mike McCarley of TMRW Sports.
Set up in August last year, TGL will launch its first season on January 9, 2024 and will follow what is being called the modern match play format. The new league has roped in digital finance company SoFi as presenting sponsor.
TGL’s ownership pattern is a combination of six team owners, singers Justin Timberlake and Justin Bieber, Venus and Serena Williams, Formula One’s Lewis Hamilton, basketball superstar LeBron James, promoters Woods and McIlroy and the PGA Tour.
At first look, TGL appears to be a counter to Greg Norman’s Saudi Arabia-supported LIV Golf League that has just completed a successful second season.
It also seems to be an attempt by the PGA Tour to keep as many of its stars as possible out of the reach of LIV Golf that will be looking to add to its roster in the off-season ahead of the 2024 schedule that could see a number of new faces being inducted.
TGL will be based at one venue in its inaugural season, the SoFi Centre at Palm Beach State College in Palm Beach Gardens in Florida, and played over 15 holes broken down into nine holes of “triples” and six holes of singles play.
The format
An introduction on the TGL website said, “Modern Match Play is what we are calling our 15-hole format that includes nine holes of Triples (3 vs 3 alternate shot) and six holes of Singles (head-to-head play).
“Two teams made up of three players each will tee off at SoFi Centre and start with Triples. From there, they’ll complete the match by playing Singles.
“Each hole is worth one point and the team with the fewest shots on a hole wins the point. The team with the most points at the end of the night wins the match.
“Let’s give you an example of how Triples will work. Say Tiger Woods, Shane Lowry and Rickie Fowler on Team 1 are playing Rory McIlroy, Patrick Cantlay and Collin Morikawa on Team 2.
“On hole 1 of Triples, Tiger tees off for his team and Rory tees off for his team. Then, Shane will take the next shot for Team 1, Cantlay will do the same for Team 2 and so on, until the hole is complete.
“To give you an example of how Singles works: The 10th hole begins with head-to-head play as Tiger representing his team plays Rory on the opposing team.
“They play the entire hole and the winner (fewest shots) earns the point. The next hole, Lowry faces Cantlay. And then Fowler faces Morikawa. The cycle begins again for holes 13, 14 and 15, so in total 6 holes of Singles will be played.
“Each hole has a value of one point and the team with the fewest strokes on a hole wins the point. Ties are worth zero points and there are no carryovers.”
The top four teams from the regular season will advance to the playoffs, which will include single-elimination semi-finals and a “best-of-three” championship series.
The venue
SoFi Centre is a nearly 250,000-square-foot venue that will accommodate approximately 1,600 people on match nights during TGL’s inaugural season. The arena-style “course” will cover an area of approximately 97 by 50 yards.
Players will hit off tee boxes with real grass, fairway, rough, and sand on tee shots and approach shots into a 64×46 foot screen powered by Full Swing technology. The screen is roughly 20 times the size of a standard simulator.
For the finish to each hole, players will move to what will be called the Green Zone, a custom-built complex featuring an adaptable putting surface built by Full Swing.
The 3,800 square-foot “tech-infused” putting area includes three 15 by 27-foot virtual greens, each with 189 actuators and jacks that can alter slopes to create variety on every hole.
In all, TGL will be made up of six teams of four players from the PGA Tour, which is also a part-owner of the initiative and only three players per team named in advance will compete on match night.
The inaugural TGL Season 1 Roster includes Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, Joohyung “Tom” Kim, Tommy Fleetwood, Collin Morikawa, Rickie Fowler, and Sahith Theegala amongst others.
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