Rory McIlroy gave golf enthusiasts a glimpse of what’s to come in the inaugural season of the golf league TGL. During halftime of Saturday’s NFL game between the Baltimore Ravens and Cleveland Browns, McIlroy sat down with ESPN commentator Scott Van Pelt to discuss “Tomorrow’s Golf League” – a tech-infused circuit that the Northern Irishman hopes will revolutionize how the sport is watched and played.
“I think the first thing that I would like to have people know is it’s golf, but it’s reimagined. Sort of trying to take golf into the 21st century,” he started. “We have teams. Obviously, there’s a lot of technology involved, trying to bring it into the digital era. 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 [we’re] trying to appeal to that bigger sports audience out there.”
On Tuesday, TGL will kick off at SoFi Center in Palm Beach Gardens – a 250,000-square foot arena that has the capacity to seat 1,500 spectators. In this indoor-based league, 24 PGA Tour players will be divided into six teams of four and compete on a weekly basis in the coming months.
The groundbreaking initiative caught the eye of McIlroy and Woods when Mike McCarley introduced it in December 2020. The power trio went on to establish TMRW Sports, launching the league this month after a year’s postponement.
It wasn’t until McIlroy entered SoFi Center, with its massive screen and dynamic green, that he grasped the enormity of the TGL project.
Golf Monthly’s Matt Cradock reports that TGL will feature a total prize pot of $21 million, with the victorious team pocketing a staggering $9 million at the season’s end. The inaugural contest will see the New York Golf Club (Xander Schauffele, Rickie Fowler, and Matt Fitzpatrick) pitted against The Bay Golf Club (Ludvig Aberg, Wyndham Clark, and Shane Lowry).
