Golf News
Last Updated: 24/08/22 5:55pm
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Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy have joined forces to launch a new “tech-fused golf league”, a team event featuring PGA Tour players designed to engage with a new TV audience.
The league, run in partnership with the PGA Tour, will launch in 2024 and feature six teams of three PGA Tour players competing over 18 holes on a “data-rich, virtual course complete with a tech-infused, short-game complex.”
Woods and McIlroy have already committed to taking part and each team will play five matches during a 15-week regular season, taking place on various Monday evenings throughout the year, followed by semi-final matches and a final.
The announcement of TGL comes a day after Woods and McIlroy, two of the game’s biggest stars, announced the launch of TMRW Sports as a company that will aim to use technology as a way to cultivate a younger golf audience.
“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 in a press release.
“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.”
Organizers promise a high-energy, greenside fan experience for the short-form version of golf in a coliseum environment, with every shot to be shown live and 18 holes to be shown within a two-hour window on live primetime television – although no broadcast details have yet been confirmed.
August 25, 2022, 5:30pm
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“I think it’s a great opportunity for PGA Tour players to show a different side of themselves primetime on Monday night,” McIlroy said ahead of the season-ending Tour Championship. “I think it’s great for everyone involved, fans, TV, players, the Tour in general.
“I think it’s great for brand exposure to try to engage a different audience. We’ve all heard about the fact of how old the golf audience is, trying to get younger eyeballs on to it. I just think it’s going to be a really cool concept. Tiger and I are incredibly excited.
“We shared this vision with the room of players last week in Wilmington [meeting with PGA Tour players]. Some of those players were already involved. It’s just another prong to what the PGA Tour are trying to do to push the Tour forward, and there was so much excitement in the room with that.”
On the possibility of seeing Woods in action more frequently as part of this league, McIlroy added: “Who knows where we’re going to see Tiger Woods play golf next [on the PGA Tour], right? We don’t know what his schedule is going to be. We don’t know how his body is going to be.
“To be able to see him still showcase his skills on primetime, 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.”
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