Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy agree: TGL original roof collapsing was ‘blessing in disguise’

PALM BEACH GARDENS — When TGL launches Tuesday, inside a cavernous 250,000-square foot arena featuring a 64 x 53-foot screen and rotating green, and with 1,500 spectators experiencing an entire golf match without leaving their seats; it was all possible because of an act of God.

Not that the high-tech, simulated, interactive golf league started by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy would not have happened.

It just would not have happened like this.

About 14 months ago, with construction started on TGL’s original arena, a storm blew through northern Palm Beach County, collapsing the domed roof and delaying the league’s start by a year. No one was injured.

Now, with a redesigned arena made of steel that includes a traditional roof instead of a bubble, the consensus is that storm was the best thing that could have happened to TGL.

“I think it was a blessing in disguise,” said Woods, a Jupiter Island resident. “We were rushing to get it ready. I don’t think we had all the components we have now, and we certainly didn’t have the technology we’re able to have now. It worked out for the best for us as players, for the fans, and I think for everyone watching.

“We’re going to be able to deliver a better experience, and I think without that storm that would not have happened.”

Tiger Woods’ first meeting about TGL was four years ago

When New York Golf Club meets The Bay GC Tuesday at the SoFi Center on the campus of Palm Beach State College in TGL’s inaugural match, it will be the culmination of years of planning for this unique concept.

TGL is the brainchild of Mike McCarley, who brought the concept to Woods and McIlroy. McCarley founded TMRW Sports in 2022 along with Woods and McIlroy. Although TGL is their first project, the idea for the indoor league was first discussed in December 2020.

“When Mike McCarley and Tiger and I sat down and talked about this idea I was like, yeah, this seems like a really good idea and it would be fun to be part of,” said McIlroy, who lives in Jupiter.

“Then once you actually try to get your arms around what you’re going to do, it turned into a massive undertaking. And it’s been really cool to see it go from just that idea when we talked in Tiger’s office until it’s real now and it’s about to launch. And we’re really excited for that.”

Technology was at the foundation of TGL, which stands for TMRW Golf League, but it’s much more. It’s integrating a tech-infused league with real-time golf, while giving fans the ultimate up-close-and-personal experience, fitting it all into the schedule of the world’s greatest golfers and allowing it be TV-friendly.

All of that was accomplished, including a partnership with ESPN, which will televise every match – 15 regular season, two semifinals and a best-of-three finals – fitting each into a two-hour window.

“When someone hears about us being simulator golf (and thinks) it’s maybe a little gimmicky, it’s not that,” Billy Horschel said. “We’re hitting off real grass. We’re hitting real shots. We’re playing on some artificial surface, but there’s a lot of technology that’s gone into this.”

More: Why Rory McIlroy believes TGL is beating LIV Golf at its own game

TGL officials traveled the world, listening to Toptracer’s pitch in Stockholm, Sweden; building labs in Orlando and suburban West Palm Beach, to test every aspect of this project before settling on the final product.

“When we started on this journey, you take a sport like golf that’s got 600 years of history and tradition and everything that comes with that, the good and the bad, and we really wanted to keep one foot firmly planted in the traditional game,” McCarley said.

“But with the other foot we really wanted to be trying to bring the game more into the future and embracing technology, which from the very early conversations with Tiger and Rory, both of them shared that thesis.”

Teams were formed, the league settled on six representing Boston, New York, Atlanta, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Jupiter, which is co-owned by Woods.

The list of owners includes high-profile businesspeople and athletes. Such names as Arthur Blank (Atlanta), John Henry and the Fenway Group (Boston), Serena and Venus Williams and Giannis Antetokounmpo (L.A.), Steven Cohen (New York), Stephen Curry and Marc Lasry (The Bay).

The buy-in for each ownership group was around $50 million. And 54% of TGL would be owned by TMRW Sports, 18% by the PGA Tour which bought in, 18% by team owners and the remaining 10% would be player equity.

TGL was successful in recruiting a roster of 24 golfers that includes seven of the top 10 in the current world ranking (including No. 3 McIlroy), and half of the top 30.

What was in it for them? The purse for the first season is $21 million and the winning team will earn $9 million or $2.25 million per player. Team payouts for second through sixth: $4.5 million, $2.25 million, $2 million, $1.75 million and $1.5 million.

“From the very beginning, I was excited about it,” Horschel said. “But me, I love the game of golf, I felt like this is another way to bring golf to people that have never played golf, that haven’t really watched golf.”

Mic’d up golfers could make for spicy conversation

With money and a trophy (SoFi Cup) at stake, the competitive side of these athletes will emerge. But they also realize TGL has an entertainment component.

“It’s going to be really competitive,” Horschel said. “We’re competitors. We want to win. But we also have to be entertainers at the same time. I think everyone who has signed up to be a part of this is aware of that, and they’re going to do their part to make sure this is successful.”

With every golfer mic’d up, both the serious and entertaining side of each golfer could surface for all to hear.

Players discussing strategy as they dissect each shot and each hole while looking at their “digital caddies” will be on blast.

“People are going to see our personalities,” Wyndham Clark said. “Some things could come out that maybe we don’t want to say. But that’s how other sports are.

“I’m going to have to really watch my cussing, but on our team, Shane Lowry. He has some cuss words on trigger pretty quick, so he’s going to have to really watch himself.”

McCarley likens the fan experience to that of sitting courtside at an NBA game or along the boards in an NHL arena.

“So the idea of in a way demystifying the sport,” McCarley said. “Not just because the technology and the cameras but hearing directly from the players about, ‘Here is what I am trying to do and here’s why, and now watch me do it.’

“And sometimes they do it and sometimes they don’t.”

There will be plenty of strategizing, thanks to the 30 different holes designed by three companies –including Palm Beach Gardens-based Nicklaus Design – and a turntable that changes the position of the green and the three real bunkers surrounding the green.

Some of those holes you could find on a real golf course. Others are only possible in the simulated world.

Players will be much more inclined to take risks, especially on holes built into canyons or surrounded by water, than they would during a PGA Tour event.

“The last thing we want to do is make ourselves look like idiots on live TV in prime time, duffing a chip or skulling something, which is going to happen,” Horschel said. “Someone is going to skull a bunker shot into the crowd and it’s going to be awesome. But you don’t want to be that guy that does it the first time.”

Each TGL match will start with the golfers hitting their tee shot off a platform into a giant screen 35 yards away. Approach shots will be hit from an area 21 yards from the screen. That forward platform is used once the simulator says the ball is 140 yards from the green.

The platforms consist of real fairway grass and sand and contains three hitting areas of fairway grass, rough grass and sand, each 7 x 7 feet.

“The playing surfaces are very realistic,” McIlroy said. “Whenever you hit it out of the rough, you have to think about whether you’re going to get a flyer; whether it’s going to come out soft. A lot of things that you would have to think about on a real golf course.”

Once the ball has reached the green area a spotlight shines on the spot where the ball must be placed. The players then chip and putt as if playing on a regular course. Under the green are about 600 actuators that will alter the undulations for each hole, and a turntable that changes the position of the green and the three real bunkers that surround the green.

“The rotating green blew me away,” Woods said. “I’ve never seen a rotating green.”

Those bunkers contain the same silky white sand used at Augusta National for the Masters.

Beware of the shot clock and the Hammer

Each hole has a value of one point, except when the Hammer is thrown.

One team starts each match holding a Hammer. The Hammer can be used at any time and when it’s accepted the value of that hole is increased by one point. If a team declines to accept the Hammer it forfeits the hole.

The Hammer changes possession each time it is used and it may be used multiple times during a single hole.

“Anyone that plays golf with their buddies and gambles at all, you know what a hammer is; you know it doubles the bet,” Clark said. “I think that makes it fun.”

With each match having to fit into a two-hour television window, the league will feature a 40-second shot clock. Each player will have 40 seconds to hit or their team will receive a one-shot penalty.

Players will be looking directly at the countdown, which will be featured in bright red numbers on the scoreboards on either side of the screen.

“I know there’s going to be issues that guys will come across, especially guys that maybe won’t spend as much time with practice or prep because it is a pretty fast-moving thing,” Rickie Fowler said. “There’s going to be some timeouts used.”

Prep has been a hot topic. With 11 of the league’s 24 players living in northern Palm Beach County, including the entire New York team of Fowler, Xander Schauffele, Matt Fitzpatrick and Cameron Young, SoFi Center has been a busy place.

“There’s a few of us that have quite the advantage that we live in the area so we’re able to maybe spend a little more time in there than some of the other guys,” McIlroy said.

But that will soon level out as TGL dives deep into a season that will last through March 25.

“There’s going to be a lot of cool things as we go into the season,” Horschel said. “I think you’re going to see guys get more comfortable. They’re going to learn more about everything that’s going on, feel more comfortable with the production and everything.

“And I think guys are going to open up more and there’s going to be more fun things, but there are things that we can do to sort of get the crowd more involved and make it more entertaining for the viewers at home watching on TV.”

Tom D’Angelo is a senior sports columnist and reporter for The Palm Beach Post. He can be reached at tdangelo@pbpost.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: TGL: Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy interactive golf league, starts Tuesday