The announcement this week that the New York Golf Club will meet the Bay Golf Club in the first-ever TGL match at 9 p.m. EST January 7 on ESPN is intended to be a big deal, with the league’s full schedule release marking another important milepost on the yellow brick road toward a new, teched-out version of professional golf.
The TGL presented by SoFi (to be official), if it has slipped your mind amid the avalanche of political ads and football games, is the made-for-television team competition that will be played entirely indoors on a giant simulator and, most critically, will include many of the PGA Tour glitterati, notably league co-founders Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.
It is intended to fill the entertainment void on Monday and Tuesday evenings from January through March while generating a golf-can-be-hip vibe, and it appears to be rich in star power, wealthy investors and optimism.
At this point, it is like a dream house being built. The renderings are there, and the materials have been loaded in. Soon, it will be time to see whether it’s everything it looks to be on paper or, in today’s world, a computer screen.
For those wondering whether the TGL is a blatant rip-off of LIV Golf’s team concept which has been greeted with widespread indifference, the TGL idea was being cultivated before LIV came into existence and will be more different than it is alike.
The TGL is made-for-television exhibition golf. Whether it wants to or not, that’s what LIV feels like.
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