NEW YORK: Tiger Woods makes his debut in the second week of the indoor TMRW Golf League, part of a schedule released Monday that has the six teams wrapping up the inaugural season on ESPN two weeks before the Masters.
Rory McIlroy, among the owners with Woods of TMRW Sports, won’t play until the fourth week after he gets back from playing on the European tour in Dubai.
The TGL debuts on Tuesday, Jan. 7, from the SoFi Center in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, an arena roughly the size of a football field that can hold about 1,500 spectators.
Three players from the four-man teams compete in 15-hole matches that blend virtual and real-time golf. The longer shots will be hit into a 3,400-square-foot screen, roughly 24 times the size of a standard golf simulator. From about 50 yards and in, there will be actual shots to a 41-yard turntable green that can provide a variety of shots.
The first match is between New York Golf Club, led by Xander Schauffele, against The Bay Golf Club in San Francisco, headed by Ludvig Aberg and Wyndham Clark. It is scheduled for 9 p.m. following a college basketball game.
Woods and his Jupiter Golf Club play the second week, the night after the sixth and final NFL wild card playoff game on Monday night.
Key to this hi-tech indoor league is being on the ESPN platforms, with the opening six weeks of TGL held right after a weekend of football. TMRW Sports, the sports and entertainment venture that created the indoor golf league, is counting on promotion during the college football and NFL telecasts.
There have been weekday golf exhibitions for years, going as far back as the “Showdown at Sherwood” featuring Woods and David Duval when they were Nos. 1 and 2 in the world, and most recently the December match in Las Vegas featuring PGA Tour stars (Scottie Scheffler and McIlroy) against LIV Golf’s biggest draws (Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka).
TGL is a new concept but figures to have a faster pace with nine holes of alternating shots among three players and six holes of singles play. There will be a 40-second shot clock, allowing for matches to easily fit into the two-hour window.
Mike McCarley, the former Golf Channel executive who is CEO and founder of TMRW Sports, described it as a “live, courtside experience for golf on an unprecedented scale.”
He said TGL would complement the PGA Tour as a fast-paced team competition. The regular season ends March 4, followed by the semifinals March 17 and 18 — after The Players Championship — and the best-of-three final on March 24-25.
Each of the teams will play five times during the regular season. The schedule was built around feedback from the 24 players and where they plan to play on tour. McIlroy is the defending champion at the Dubai Desert Classic, for example, which is why his Boston Common Golf does not start until Jan. 27.
Hideki Matsuyama also plays for Boston and plays the first two weeks in Hawaii.
Five players in the opening TGL match will be going to Florida from The Sentry, the PGA Tour’s season opener at Kapalua on Maui.
