TGL: Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods excited for launch of Tomorrow’s Golf League and its potential

Rory McIlroy believes the new Tomorrow’s Golf League (TGL), starting this week and live on Sky Sports, is “golf reimagined for the 21st century”.

The name of the indoor simulator league stems from TMRW Sports, the company founded by McIlroy, Tiger Woods and former NBC golf executive Mike McCarley to focus on producing “technology-based ventures” in the world of sports and entertainment.

Woods and McIlroy are not involved in the opening match of the inaugural season, where New York Golf Club take on The Bay Golf Club over 15 holes – in front of 1,500 spectators – in Florida on Tuesday evening (Wednesday 2am UK time).

New York’s Rickie Fowler, Matt Fitzpatrick and Xander Schauffele will face The Bay’s Ludvig Åberg, Shane Lowry and Wyndham Clark in alternate-shot triples and singles, with each hole worth a point. If the teams are tied at the end of regulation, a nearest-the-pin contest will determine the winners.

Woods will feature in week two for his Jupiter Links Golf Club and again in week four against McIlroy’s Boston Common Golf, with the top four of the six teams advancing to the play-offs.

“The first thing I would like to have people know is it’s golf, but it’s reimagined, sort of trying to take golf into the 21st century,” McIlroy said. “We have teams, obviously there’s a lot of technology involved, trying to bring it into the digital era.

“A lot of things that we’ve taken from other sports like a shot-clock, a timeout, things that you don’t see in regular golf [We’re] trying to appeal to that bigger sports audience out there.”

Delayed launch ‘blessing in disguise’

The delayed start to TGL was caused by the venue’s roof collapsing during a storm which blew through Palm Beach County, although Woods has described that as a “blessing in disguise” as it allowed for more time to produce a better product.

“Tiger and I have been a part of this from day one and whenever you see the concepts and the renderings you think ‘Yeah, that looks really cool’,” McIlroy told ESPN.

“But until you actually stand in here [the SoFi Center] and you see what they’ve been able to do, I think the scale of it is the thing for me that blows my mind.

“Every time I step in here I’m just blown away by the size of the screen, the fact that we’re able to put something that looks like golf on a stage like this. It’s really cool and we’re obviously really excited about it within the game of golf.

“I think a lot of other people outside of the game are going to see this and hopefully get excited about it as well.”

Players will hit from tee boxes with real grass, fairway, rough and sand on tee shots and approach shots into a 64ft x 53ft screen. For shots from around 50 yards or less, the ball will be placed in a short-game area which includes an adjustable green.

“The playing surfaces are very realistic,” McIlroy added. “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.”

Who is playing and for which team?

Atlanta Drive GC – Patrick Cantlay, Lucas Glover, Billy Horschel, Justin Thomas

Boston Common Golf – Keegan Bradley, Hideki Matsuyama, Rory McIlroy, Adam Scott

Jupiter Links Golf Club – Max Homa, Tom Kim, Kevin Kisner, Tiger Woods

Los Angeles Golf Club – Collin Morikawa, Sahith Theegala, Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose

New York Golf Club – Matt Fitzpatrick, Rickie Fowler, Xander Schauffele, Cameron Young

The Bay Golf Club – Ludvig Åberg, Wyndham Clark, Min Woo Lee, Shane Lowry

Who will win the inaugural TGL season and the SoFi Cup? Watch every match of the 2025 and 2026 seasons exclusively live on Sky Sports Golf. Stream the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, majors and more with NOW.