Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy launching TGL virtual golf league

The new league, dubbed TGL, will include 15 regular-season matches and a postseason made up of the league’s top four teams. McIlroy and Golf Channel president Mike McCarley, who partnered with Woods on the venture, revealed the details on Wednesday at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, the site of this week’s Tour Championship.

“We’ve been working on this for two years,” McIlroy said. “I think it’s a great opportunity for PGA Tour players to show a different side of themselves, primetime on Monday night. I think it’s great for brand exposure to try to engage a different audience.”

McIlroy also said that Woods, who has competed sparingly since suffering a debilitating leg injury in a car wreck in February 2021,  planned to play in the matches.

“Who knows where we’re going to see Tiger Woods play golf next, right?” McIlroy said. “We don’t know what his schedule is going to be. We don’t know how his body is going to be. But to be able to see him still showcase his skills on prime time, on TV without really any wear and tear on his body, I think to be able to see Tiger hit golf shots and still sort of provide people with a glimpse of his genius — I think it is a really good use of his time.”

The location of the venue hasn’t been announced, but renderings show a stadium-like atmosphere that’s similar to Topgolf, with players hitting into a simulator that has a screen similar in size to IMAX for longer shots and using a real green complex for chipping and putting. The playing area will be about three-quarters of the size of a football field.

The events will be scheduled to compliment the Tour’s schedule, with the idea being to play various Tour courses, depending on where the Tour is in a given week.

It is also viewed as another way to try to thwart the controversial Saudi-backed LIV Golf Series, which features team and individual competition as well as music playing on course during its tournaments.

Woods, who has been blunt in his criticism of LIV, said in a statement that the new virtual league is the “next evolution within professional golf.”

“We all know what it’s like to be in a football stadium or a basketball arena where you can watch every play, every minute of action unfold right in front of you,” Woods said. “It’s something that inherently isn’t possible in traditional golf — and an aspect of TGL that will set it apart and appeal to a new generation of fans.”