The new indoor golf competition launches next month with teams representing six different US towns and cities – and Rory McIlroy has explained the new high-tech league
The new indoor golf competition launches next month with teams representing six different US towns and cities – and Rory McIlroy has explained the new high-tech league The new indoor golf competition launches next month with teams representing six different US towns and cities – and Rory McIlroy has explained the new high-tech league
Rory McIlroy has claimed his new TGL golf league is not a competitor to LIV Golf – but should do better because the teams are linked to US towns and cities. And the European star has also taken a dig at the Americans for getting paid to play in the next Ryder Cup.
The Manchester United-supporting Ulsterman will play for Boston Common – run by Liverpool owners Fenway Sports – in the new high-tech league which launches next month. All matches will be played on a giant golf simulator and a short game area in a new $50m indoor arena in Florida. But unlike LIV, the six four-man teams will all be associated with specific locations with teams also representing Atlanta, Jupiter Links, Los Angeles, New York and The Bay in San Francisco.
“I think what TGL has done a good job of is trying to locate in the different teams in cities or geographies where you can really plug into the wider sports fans of that city,” said McIlroy. “Obviously with Boston Common, and everyone knowing the intensity with which Boston fans support their teams, trying to plug into that.
“Obviously Fenway owns the team so plugging into the Red Sox fans and everyone else, whether it be the Celtics or the Bruins or the Patriots. That to me gives you a connection to something which is great. “
“We have got Keegan (Bradley) as well. Keegan is from that area so he is so proud to be playing for a Boston sports team. But I think that is what TGL have done maybe a little bit better – to connect with certain fan bases than let’s say LIV for example. But I see this all being complementary. Obviously there are only so many weeks in the year, there is only so much golf we can all play, but I see this as being complementary to everything else going on in the game of golf.”
TGL is the latest team format to join LIV Golf and the Ryder Cup. US players will next year get $300,000 to donate to charity and a further $200,000 which they can keep or also give away. European players do not want to be paid.
“Team golf has been around since 1927 in the professional game if you go back to the Ryder Cup,” McIlroy said.
When the questioner on a Friday conference call pointed out players did not get paid back then, McIlroy laughed: “Some of us still don’t get paid!”
TGL matches will be staged on Monday and Tuesday nights and take two hours. McIlroy is also starring in a Drive to Survive-style documentary series – “unCOMMON: Building a Boston Sports Team,” – to promote the launch. The season, which includes playoffs and a final, will finish in March before the Masters. It is all aimed at a younger audience.
(
Image:
AFP via Getty Images)
“I am still a traditionalist in a lot of ways,” McIlroy, 35, admitted. “There is no replicating championship golf. That is always going to be around.
“But I think there are certain things that we can do to try and innovate and maybe try and appeal to a younger and different demographic, especially trying to condense it into a timeframe that is a little bit more digestible and putting it on at a time when we are maybe going to get a few more eyeballs as well. I hope so. We have tried to think of everything but the proof of the pudding will be on January 7 when it all kicks off. We are all very excited.”
McIlroy has invested in TGL along with Tiger Woods, Lewis Hamilton, Serena Williams and the PGA Tour. It was scheduled to launch in January 2024 before storm damage to the SoFi Arena inflatable dome caused a 12-month delay. McIlory’s Boston team will face Woods’ Jupiter Links on January 27.
“There have been a few ups and downs in the TGL journey to get to this point,” said McIlroy. We were supposed to launch in 2024 and that has obviously been delayed to January 2025 but that has been a blessing in disguise not only for the league but for the Boston Common team as well. Everyone knows that Tyrrell Hatton was on the Boston Common team and he decided to go over to LIV and we had to recruit someone else in and we have got an amazing replacement in Hideki Matsuyama.”
Mirror – Sport
