TGL: Tiger Woods says match with Rory McIlroy 'what we envisioned' for event
2025-01-28
Category: sports

Tiger Woods says his meeting with fellow co-founder Rory McIlroy at the latest Tomorrow's Golf League (TGL) event was "what we had envisioned" for the fledgling technology-driven tournament. Woods' Jupiter Links Golf Club team beat McIlroy's Boston Common Golf squad 4-3 after overtime on Monday in the closest match of the tournament so far.World number three McIlroy was making his debut in the event, which combines virtual golf with real action, played in a custom-built 1,500-capacity arena at the SoFi Center in Florida."It couldn't have been a more pleasurable display of golf, banter," said Woods."Everyone in the audience was engaged. Hopefully all the viewership were engaged. We as players loved it."This is what we had envisioned for TGL, to have an experience like this, and I think we delivered."Woods' round included the tournament's first shot clock violation after the 15-time major champion took too long over an eight-foot putt, with TGL rules encouraging quick play.McIlroy's team-mate Adam Scott holed a 31-foot birdie putt to win the 14th hole for Boston and level the match, with US Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley halving the next hole with Jupiter Links' Tom Kim to send it to overtime.Kim and Kevin Kisner won a nearest-the-pin contest from around 40 yards to secure victory for Jupiter Links."It was a great match all night, back and forth, and exactly what the league needed," said McIlroy."It's been really cool to hear that a younger demographic, it's resonated with them."One of the visions when we started was to try to engage that younger demographic and give them a bite-sized version of golf that they could get into and understand, and hopefully we've done that."The next match sees Boston Common take on Los Angeles Golf Club - featuring three of Collin Morikawa, Sahith Theegala, Justin Rose and Tommy Fleetwood - on 4 February.
What is the TGL?
TGL, featuring six squads of four players, is run by TMRW Sports, the technology-focused sports company launched by Woods and McIlroy in August 2022.Tennis legends Serena and Venus Williams, NBA star Stephen Curry and Liverpool owners the Fenway Sports Group are among the backers.Each team will play five matches in a round-robin league format between 7 January and 4 March, with the top four sides earning a spot in the play-offs, which begin on 17 March.Before each match, teams will pick three players to compete in 15-hole contests that are split into two sessions: nine holes of three-man alternate shots followed by six holes of singles head-to-head play.Points are awarded for winning a hole and the team with the most points at the end is the winner. In the event of a draw, the winner will be decided by a nearest-the-pin contest.