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Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy’s high-tech indoor golf league has officially launched.
TGL had its first match at its dedicated SoFi Center on the campus of Palm Beach State College in Florida on January 7, with The Bay Golf Club eventually beating New York Golf Club 9-2. Its live prime-time broadcast on ESPN averaged 919,000 viewers, according to the network.
The team-centric league is the brainchild of TMRW Sportsa company founded by Woods, McIlroy and former NBC Sports executive Mike McCarley. It was developed in collaboration with the PGA Tour.
PALM BEACH GARDENS, FLORIDA – JANUARY 07: Rory McIlroy of Boston Common Golf and Tiger Woods of Jupiter Links Golf Club look on before the TGL presented by SoFi match between New York Golf Club and Bay Golf Club at the SoFi Center on January 7 . (Mike Ehrmann/TGL/TGL Golf via Getty Images/Getty Images)
During the process of running the league, TGL found as “founding partners” a host of big-name partners, including luxury carmaker Genesis, consultancy Businessolver and consumer electronics retailer Best Buy . It has a dozen official partners in total, according to a recent press release.
Their matches “feature three players competing on each team in a two-hour team golf competitionwhich offers a new approach to sports with a focus on technology, innovation and fan engagement,” TGL explains on its website. Two of the league’s six teams face off in one game.
TGL’s regular season consists of 15 games, all played indoors at the So-Fi Center, named after the digital financial company that signed a multi-year deal to be its sponsor.
The site covers nearly 250,000 square meters. Inside, competitors, all big names in golf, work their way through 15 holes in a high-tech space “about the size of a football field” that includes a “ScreenZone” and a “GreenZone” .
PALM BEACH GARDENS, FLORIDA – JANUARY 7: A fan cheers in the stands during play on the ninth hole during the TGL presented by SoFi match between New York Golf Club and Bay Golf Club at the SoFi Center on January 7, 2025 in Palm Beach Garden (Mike Ehrmann/TGL/TGL Golf via Getty Images/Getty Images)
A massive 64 by 53 foot simulator screen created by Full Swing plays a key role in the match in “ScreenZone”.
PALM BEACH GARDENS, FLORIDA – JANUARY 7: Shane Lowry of The Bay Golf Club plays a shot on the seventh hole during their TGL presented by SoFi match against New York Golf Club at the SoFi Center on January 7, 2025 in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. (Ph (Mike Ehrmann/TGL/TGL Golf via Getty Images/Getty Images)
Meanwhile, the “GreenZone” serves as a dedicated area for the short game, with a massive rotating green that uses hundreds of actuators to “change the slope of the green, creating a variety of games on each hole,” TGL said.
The league uses a nine-hole triples and six-hole singles format. About 1,500 people can watch in person at the SoFi Center from infield seats, according to the high-tech golf league.
PALM BEACH GARDENS, FLORIDA – JANUARY 7: General view of New York Golf Club and The Bay Golf Club players on the green during their TGL presented by SoFi match at the SoFi Center on January 7, 2025 in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. (Photo by Cliff Hawk (Cliff Hawkins/TGL/TGL Golf via Getty Images/Getty Images)
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TGL’s inaugural season was scheduled to be played in 2024. However, in November 2023, a “failure of the temporary power system and safety systems caused the dome to deflate” and caused some damage , which reportedly caused the league to change the start to this year. a TGL press release at the time.
Now with one game under its belt, TGL will hold the rest of its regular season games over the next two months, with a two-round postseason to follow. The team that captures the championship title will receive $9 million of the season’s total prize money of $21 million. according to Golf.com.
The six four-player teams include Home Depot co-founder Arthur Blank’s Atlanta Drive GC; Avenue Sports Fund and NBA star Stephen Curry’s The Bay Golf Club; Fenway Sports Group’s Boston Common Golf; TGR Ventures and businessman David Blitzer’s Jupiter Links Golf Club; Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit and former tennis stars Serena Venus Williams’ Los Angeles Golf Club; and hedge fund founder Steven Cohen’s New York Golf Club, according to TGL.
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