TGL announce new launch date after Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy forced into frustrating delay
Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy were forced to delay the launch of their innovative golf league TGL at the end of 2023 after the host stadium’s roof collapsed last November
Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy’s innovative golf league TGL have announced that the circuit’s inaugural event will get underway in January 2025, 12 months after its initial start date.
Woods and McIlroy are two of the founders behind TGL, where a whole host of PGA Tour stars will compete inside a state-of-the-art stadium across six teams. After plans were initially released in by TMRW Sports in the summer of 2022, the league was set to launch earlier this year.
The league’s founders were dealt a huge blow last November though, as the roof of the 1,500-capacity SoFi Center in Palm Beach that will host the indoor circuit was seriously damaged.
This proved to be a huge set back, forcing TGL bosses to postpone their initial launch. Two months on though there has been some good news for the innovative league, who confirmed on Monday that they will officially start up a year late in January 2025.
The circuit’s events will take place on Tuesdays throughout the year, starting on January 7. Announcing the plans, Woods and McIlroy’s co-founder Mike McCarley said in a statement: “As we plan the 2025 launch of TGL presented by SoFi, we now have the first three Tuesdays in January circled to introduce sports fans to this new form of team golf.
“January is a tremendous time of year for fans looking for prime time sports and TGL’s launch will complement the start of the PGA Tour season and take advantage of ESPN’s promotional machine across their coverage of the NFL and college football playoffs. We’re grateful for our tremendous partner SoFi, who shares in our vision to harness tech />technology to create new approaches within traditional institutions.
“As construction proceeds on SoFi Center, we’re eager to introduce sports fans to TGL as we focus on the league’s debut this coming January.” In total 24 players will compete across the six franchises, with both Woods and McIlroy included on the playing roster.
They are joined by Justin Thomas, Patrick Cantlay, Billy Horschel, Lucas Glover, Keegan Bradley, Adam Scott, Tommy Fleetwood, Sahith Theegala, Collin Morikawa, Justin Rose, Wyndham Clark, Xander Schauffele, Max Homa, Matt Fitzpatrick, Tom Kim, Cameron Young, Min Woo Lee, Rickie Fowler, Shane Lowry, and Kevin Kisner.
TGL are still two players short of completing their 24-man roster though after Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton opted to join LIV Golf. Rahm became the first to defect, after signing a a reported £450 million deal with Greg Norman and co in December. Just over a month earlier, the Spaniard announced he had left TGL.
His Legion XIII teammate Hatton is also set to play no part in the innovative league despite initially committing. He completed a last-minute deal to make the Saudi switch in February, and in the aftermath was removed from the TGL website, leaving a gap on McIlroy’s Boston Common roster.
