The Time Golf League’s (TGL) new indoor golf tournaments will have top players performing in the off-season in partly digital televised games.
Key Details
- TGL—owned by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy—will be a technology-focused golf league that makes its primetime premiere in January 2024.
- The league has already brought on big-name athlete investors like Dwayne Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Lewis Hamilton, Alex Morgan, Tony Romo, and Josh Allen and has already signed multiple big-name professional golfers to compete.
- Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian and professional athletes Serena Williams and Venus Williams have already been announced as future franchise owners.
- Fenway Sports Group is the owner of the Boston Red Sox, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Liverpool Football Club, and now it will own a yet-unnamed New England golf team.
- Speaking recently with CNBC Squawk Box, Fenway Sports Group Chair Tom Werner and TGL CEO Mike McCarley announced that Fenway will own the second of six planned teams.
Why It’s Important
TGL will operate very differently from traditional tournaments, putting a greater emphasis on digital media and technology. Teams will compete from an indoor arena in Palm Beach, Florida, with the matches edited down to two-hour primetime broadcasts on Monday nights. Each of the six teams will have three players and compete in 15 weekly tournaments through April 2024.
The league does face the challenge of differentiating itself from its rivals. The league has a partnership with PGA Tour, whose recent controversy stands to force the company to make it clear how this league stands apart. However, it is too early to tell how TGL will take shape and avoid confusion as an alternative and partner to the larger PGA Tour events and tournaments, Golf.com notes.
Amid the ongoing controversy surrounding the prospective merger of PGA Tour and Saudi-backed LIV Golf, TGL has garnered significant attention as an alternative to the controversial leading names in the professional golf industry. Woods and McIlroy announced the new league on June 8 and revealed the creation of the first-ever golf team—the Los Angeles Golf Club.
Notable Quote
“We don’t have a name of a team, but we’re excited to be in this league. It is a new format. It’s innovative. It’s a fusion between live golf and technology. This is going to be a great primetime live event for 15 weeks, and we’re excited to be a part of it … this has been in the idea stage for three years, and we’re bringing in the best golfers in the world,” says Werner.