ESPN will broadcast new Tiger Woods/Rory McIlroy indoor golf league
The new golf league will tee off in January and will be broadcast across ESPN/ABC platforms.
ESPN will broadcast all installments of next year's Tiger Woods/Rory McIlroy-backed indoor golf league TGL, a major coup for the league. Competitions will begin in January, and will run for 15 regular-season weeks plus playoffs.
TGL, a joint venture of Woods, McIlroy and the PGA Tour, will feature teams of PGA Tour players competing in an arena outfitted with a virtual course and a physical putting green. Players committed to compete include Woods, McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Collin Morikawa, Justin Thomas, Matt Fitzpatrick, Justin Rose, Adam Scott, Xander Schauffele, Max Homa, Rickie Fowler and Billy Horschel. Players will compete in three-man teams before a live audience, and every player will be miked up.
Players will be dispersed among six teams; four already have established ownership in place. TGL Atlanta is owned by Falcons owner Arthur Blank, TGL Boston by Fenway Sports Group, Los Angeles Golf Club by Serena and Venus Williams and others, and TGL New York by Mets owner Steve Cohen.
The partnership with ESPN is a significant boost to the league; LIV Golf, another relatively new golf tour, has struggled to draw viewers to its YouTube channel and its broadcasts on The CW. TGL will benefit from promotion during the NFL playoffs and college football's national championship, and the league stresses that its technological elements and compressed broadcast timeframe were created with the hope of fitting more neatly into the perspectives and schedules of 2020s sports fans.
ABC will air a preview show on Dec. 30. Regular-season matches will take place on Tuesdays inside a two-hour window. ESPN will televise the first two matches: Week 1, on Jan. 9, the day after the national championship, and Week 2, on Jan. 16, the day after ESPN shows an NFL wild-card game.
The full schedule for the TGL slate will be released later, and will run through the winter.
