Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy's TGL simulator golf league announced Monday that its inaugural season will launch in January 2025. The opening three matches will take place on the first three Tuesdays of the month beginning Jan. 7.
The league was initially set to debut in January 2024 only to have its start pushed an entire year when construction on its facility in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, was damaged. TGL has since decided to build a more-formal arena, the SoFi Center, at the same site -- Palm Beach State College.
"January is a tremendous time of year for fans looking for prime time sports, and TGL's launch will complement the start of the PGA Tour season and take advantage of ESPN's promotional machine across their coverage of the NFL and College Football Playoff," said Mike McCarley, founder and CEO of TMRW Sports, in a statement.
The league originally announced that it would play frequently on Monday nights in 2024. TGL will likely play a mixture of Mondays and Tuesdays in 2025 with the season wrapping up in March before preparation for the Masters and major championship season, CBS Sports has confirmed.
TGL's host facility was damaged in November 2023 when its temporary power system and backup systems failed causing the bubble being constructed to deflate. That will not be an issue moving forward as TGL released renderings of a new structure that will house the competition.
The course within the SoFi Center covers the surface of roughly a football field, and it will allow players to hit full shots from real grass tee boxes, fairway, rough and sand into a simulator screen 20 times the standard size. For shots inside 50 yards, competitors will transition from the simulator to the "Green Zone," a complex spanning more than four basketball courts that features a large, adaptable putting surface that can change the green's slope depending on the hole being played.
TGL will feature a 15-match regular season that will set the stage for the postseason where a best-of-three championship awaits the top two teams. Ahead of each three-on-three match, the two teams of four will announce which of their players are participating. All players will be mic'd up.
TGL match format, scoring
- 15 holes per match
- Three of four golfers from each team play
- Nine holes of Triples: Alternate shot (three-on-three)
- Six holes of Singles: Head-to-head (one-on-one for two holes each)
- 1 point per hole won | 0 points if hole tied
- Overtime: Closest-to-the-pin until one team hits two shots closer than the other
A team will earn 2 points for a victory in either regulation or overtime. An overtime loss will earn a team 1 point, while a regulation defeat will see the squad come away from the match empty handed.
TGL Teams
| Team | Owner | Players |
|---|---|---|
Atlanta Drive GC | Arthur Blank | Justin Thomas, Patrick Cantlay, Billy Horschel and Lucas Glover |
Boston Common Golf | Fenway Sports Group | Rory McIlroy, Adam Scott, Keegan Bradley and player to be announced |
Jupiter Links Golf Club | Tiger Woods & David Blitzer | Tiger Woods and three players to be announced |
Los Angeles Golf Club | Alexis Ohanian, Serena Williams and others | Collin Morikawa, Sahith Theegala, Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Rose |
TGL New York | Steven Cohen | TBA |
TGL San Francisco | Avenue Sports Fund with Marc Lasry, Stephen Curry and others | TBA |
Other player commitments
- Wyndham Clark
- Xander Schauffele
- Max Homa
- Matt Fitzpatrick
- Tom Kim
- Cameron Young
- Min Woo Lee
- Rickie Fowler
- Shane Lowry
- Kevin Kisner
