Two of golf’s biggest names, Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods, have combined forces to create a new golf league that combines real and virtual elements.
The competition, named Tomorrow’s Golf League (TGL), kicked off on Tuesday night (local time) in Palm Beach, Florida at a purpose-built arena. Two Australians, Adam Scott and Min Woo Lee, are competing.
Format
TGL features six teams with four players in each team. The teams represent golf clubs in six U.S. cities and towns – Boston, Jupiter, New York, LA, Atlanta, and San Francisco – though the players are not necessarily from those places.
At each match, two teams of three players will go head to head and play 15 holes. Nine of those holes will feature three players from each team alternating shots. The final six holes will be one-on-one matchups. The team or individual who sinks their ball in the fewest shots wins the hole. Each hole is worth one point and the team with the most points at the end wins. If teams are tied after 15 holes, a closest-to-pin competition (best of three) will be played to determine a winner.
Throughout the season, teams will play each other once. Two points are awarded for a win. The losing team can salvage a point if they lose in overtime. The finals will feature the top four teams at the end of the regular season, who will play semi-finals and a final to crown the inaugural winner.
The SoFi Centre
The venue for these matches is the SoFi Centre in Palm Beach, Florida – the first virtual golf venue of its kind. Players will hit any shot that is more than 50 yards from the hole (like tee and approach shots) into a virtual screen. Competitors will hit off fairways and rough made of real grass, or out of bunkers built with the same sand used at Augusta, Georgia where the Masters is played.
Once the players are within 50 yards of the hole, they will move to the ‘GreenZone’. This a custom-built area that features a green on a turntable, which can be rotated and have its topography adjusted from below. The ability to mix these variables means the hole will be different every time.
What they said
McIlroy told ESPN: “A lot of things that we’ve taken from other sports like a shot-clock, a timeout, things that you don’t see in regular golf, so, you know, trying to appeal to that bigger sports audience out there.”
Irish golfer Shane Lowry posted on X: “If hitting the first ever shot in TGL history tomorrow night wasn’t nerve-racking enough, imagine if I miss the 60 ft screen 🙈😂.”
