Golf’s latest venture – an indoor “high-tech league” launched by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy and backed by fellow sporting superstars – will get under way on Tuesday, 9 January 2024.
Fifteen of the current world’s top 20 are among the 24 PGA Tour players to have signed for the inaugural season.
All events will be televised and played at a purpose-built venue in Florida.
Serena and Venus Williams, Stephen Curry and Liverpool owners the Fenway Sports Group are among the backers.
While many details are still to be finalised – such as the prize money on offer, the name and owner of one of the six teams, or which team each golfer will play for – here’s what we do know.
What is it?
The league – called TGL – will be run by TMRW Sports, the technology-focused sports company launched by Woods and McIlroy in August 2022.
It will feature six teams of four players, playing each other once in a league format. Only three of the four players will compete in any one event.
Five teams have been announced so far, with names linked to US cities in Atlanta, Boston, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco.
NBA star Curry is involved with the San Francisco set-up, while tennis greats Serena Williams and sister Venus are among those providing support for the LA team. The Fenway Sports Group is involved with the Boston side.
The Sofi Center, at Palm Beach State College, will host each event, which will take around two hours to play and be broadcast live in the US with all players wearing microphones.
The venue can hold approximately 1,600 spectators.
Who is playing?
Woods and McIlroy, naturally. Spain’s Jon Rahm and American Justin Thomas were the next players to sign up.
Two-time major champion Thomas is so far the only player assigned to a team. Atlanta Drive GC announced on 31 October that the 30-year-old would be on their roster.
World number one Scottie Scheffler and his fellow Americans Patrick Cantlay, Rickie Fowler, Collin Morikawa, Max Homa and Xander Schauffele are among those to have also joined.
England will be well represented with Matt Fitzpatrick, Tommy Fleetwood, Tyrrell Hatton and Justin Rose all confirmed to play, as is Ireland’s Shane Lowry.
How will it work?
Each event will feature two teams competing against each other with two points awarded to the winning team.
There will be two sessions within a match.
The first is nine holes of ‘triples’ where all three players will compete in an alternate-shot format over nine holes. The second session is six holes of ‘singles’, a head-to-head competition which will feature each golfer playing two holes.
Points are awarded for winning a hole and the team with the most points at the end is victorious. In the event of a tie, a nearest the pin shootout will determine the winner.
There will be 15 matches in the league, with the top four teams qualifying for the semi-finals with the victors advancing to a best-of-three final.
The second match is scheduled to place on Tuesday, 16 January.
How will they play indoors?
Each hole will start on a golf simulator, with players hitting tee shots into a huge screen, which at 64ft x 46ft is around 20 times larger than a standard screen.
For shots of around 50 yards or less, players will switch from the simulator to hitting into adaptable greens with 189 actuators and jacks changing the slope of the putting surface for each hole.
Rather than using iconic holes or courses that most simulators allow players to experience, a number of new holes have been designed specifically for the TGL season.
