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If you were to recreate the sport of golf for the year 2025, what would it look like?
TGL believes this has all been solved: a prime-time golf competition in which PGA Tour players compete in teams that hit shots against a giant screen and finish their holes on a shape-shifting putting green in a stadium with 1,500 spectators. Welcome to professional golf’s latest scientific experiment.
TGL airs its first match on Tuesday at 9pm ET on ESPN, and the golf world is eagerly waiting to see how it will play out on live TV and in person at the SoFi Center in Palm Beach, Florida. Here’s everything you need to know about the new league ahead of its debut:
What is TGL?
TGL is a 15-week golf series started by TMRW Sports – a company founded by Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Mike McCarley, a former NBC Sports executive, and backed by major investors including Steph Curry and Fenway Sports Group.
The competition will take place indoors, in a special stadium on the campus of Palm Beach State College, equipped with a five-story high simulator screen, grass tee boxes for full-swing shots and bunkers filled with what is believed to be the same sand that is used at Augusta National Golf Club. Once players reach the area surrounding the green on each virtual hole, they turn to the rotating green to complete it. Nearly 600 hydraulic jacks will help change the undulation of the green to distinguish the holes, which were designed by different golf architects without structural limitations. This is video game golf, after all.
There are six TGL teams, representing cities across the US, each consisting of four PGA Tour players. During the season, these teams face each other live. The top four teams then advance to the play-offs. The golfers will be at the microphone and the shot clocks will require a spirited pace of play. There will be referees and timeouts like other Major League sports; even smoke and walk-out music will introduce the players to the ticketed crowd. There are no glass panels or nets separating the fans from the golfers. So yes, a greenside bunker shot can be dangerous.
A volcano splitting a waterway? Possibly in the virtual world of TGL. (Courtesy of TGL)
What does TGL stand for?
Tomorrow is the golf competition
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Who is on the TGL teams?
Woods and McIlroy top the list of PGA Tour players on the TGL roster, but neither will appear in the first match, which is between New York Golf Club and The Bay Golf Club. The league partners with the PGA Tour, meaning no LIV golfers are included. Great champions like Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm and Brooks Koepka will not appear on the 60-foot screen. It is notable that the number 1 golfer in the world, Scottie Scheffler, has also not registered. Here’s the full breakdown of the six teams:
• Atlanta Drive GC: Justin Thomas, Patrick Cantlay, Billy Horschel, Lucas Glover
• Boston Common Golf: Rory McIlroy, Hideki Matsuyama, Keegan Bradley, Adam Scott
• Jupiter Left GC: Tiger Woods, Max Homa, Tom Kim, Kevin Kisner
• Los Angeles Golf Club: Collin Morikawa, Sahith Theegala, Justin Rose, Tommy Fleetwood
• New York Golf Club: Matt Fitzpatrick, Rickie Fowler, Xander Schauffele, Cameron Young
• The Bay Golf Club: Ludvig Åberg, Wyndham Clark, Min Woo Lee, Shane Lowry
It’s New York vs. The Bay for opening night, with Fitzpatrick, Fowler and Schauffele playing the former and Åberg, Clark and Lowry playing the latter. Lowry has already indicated that the tee is his first.
GO DEEPER
TGL is big, aggressive and not about the money. That gives it a real chance
What are the TGL format and rules?
In each match, three players from each four-man team compete against each other. The matches last two hours and the players play 15 holes.
In the first nine-hole session, players compete in ‘Triples’, which is an alternating 3-on-3 battle. Each team plays alternately until they complete the hole and the lowest score wins. No points are awarded for a draw, just like in traditional match play.
In the second session the mutual game starts with ‘Singles’. One player competes against another player on the first hole, then the second set of players competes against each other, and then the third set. That cycle repeats once more for the full six-hole “Singles” portion.
Teams can increase the stakes of a hole by implementing a feature called ‘The Hammer’. If the other team accepts this, the value of the hole becomes two points instead of one. If they refuse, they are essentially admitting the gap.
Overtime is a 3 on 3 closest pin match between the teams until a winner is determined.
The green rotates at the SoFi Center depending on the layout of the hole, with pistons beneath the surface also changing the undulation. (Courtesy of TGL)
How long is the TGL season?
The TGL runs from January through March, with the regular season ending on March 4. The games are only broadcast on Monday and Tuesday evenings, depending on the week and conflicting broadcast schedules. The top four teams will advance to a four-week playoff season after the regular season, with games on March 17-18 and March 24-25.
How to watch
TGL airs at 9 PM ET on ESPN and ESPN+.
(Top photo of Rory McIlroy: courtesy of TGL)