High-profile golfers Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy are launching the new TGL golf league through their new TMRW Sports group, the PGA Tour announced Wednesday.
The big picture: Woods and McIlroy are creating a new "tech-infused" golf league at the same time that the PGA Tour has gone head-to-head with LIV Golf, a new golf circuit that has drawn professional golfers away from the Tour.
Driving the news: Woods and McIlroy’s TMRW Sports will partner with the PGA Tour for a new league that "will showcase team matches fusing advanced tech and live action from a custom-built venue," the Tour said in a news release.
- Events will be held on Monday nights and will not interfere with the PGA Tour's schedule, the PGA said.
- Woods and McIlroy are the first golfers to commit to the TGL.
Details: The TGL will begin in January 2024 with six teams made up of three PGA Tour players each.
- There will be 15 regular-season matches on Monday nights with semifinals and finals matches at the end of the season.
- The golfers will compete in a "data-rich, virtual course" that has "a tech-infused, short-game complex," the PGA said.
- No specifics about the venues were shared.
What they're saying: “TGL is the next evolution within professional golf, and I am committed to helping lead it into the future," Woods said in a statement.
- "Embracing technology to create this unique environment gives us the ability to move our sport into primetime on a consistent basis alongside so many of sports’ biggest events," he added.
- McIlroy said the TGL will be "comparable to sitting courtside at an NBA game."
Worth noting: The PGA Tour has been in a legal battle with LIV Golf over allowing golfers to compete in a separate golf circuit.
- The PGA's bylaws bar professional golfers from appearing in other events without the approval of the Tour's commissioner.
- The Justice Department has been investigating the PGA over potential antitrust violations as LIV Golf alleged the Tour not letting golfers compete in other circuits was anti-competitive, per the Wall Street Journal.
- Woods and McIlroy have both rejected offers to compete in LIV Golf.
Go deeper: The top golfers who’ve signed (and declined) LIV
Editor's note: This story has been updated with new details throughout