NCS
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After years of anticipation, the high-tech indoor golf league spearheaded by two of the game’s trendy greats is lastly prepared to tee off Tuesday evening.
Led by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, TGL will start at their custom-built Florida venue, the SoFi Center, and will likely be broadcast on ESPN having initially meant to begin final yr.
The digital nature and the 1,500-capacity stadium will probably be hosted in is aimed toward attracting a youthful viewers. The enterprise is the brainchild of TMRW Sports, an organization co-founded by Woods and McIlroy.
The opening sport of the brand new league sees the trio of Rickie Fowler, Matt Fitzpatrick and Xander Schauffele of the New York Golf Club tackle The Bay Golf Club’s Shane Lowry, Wyndham Clark and Ludvig Åberg.
Ahead of Tuesday’s opening match, McIlroy described it as “golf, but it’s reimagined, sort of trying to take golf into the 21st century.”
“We have teams, obviously, there’s a lot of technology involved, trying to bring it into the digital era,” he told ESPN. “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.”
McIlroy additionally added that he and Woods have been extraordinarily arms on in the course of the organizational interval of their new event.
“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 informed ESPN. “But till you really stand in right here (the SoFi Center) and you see what they’ve been in a position to do, I feel the dimensions of it’s the factor for me that blows my thoughts.
“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.”
Teeing off Tuesday evening, six groups comprising of 24 mic’d up stars of the PGA Tour will compete throughout a 15-match common season on the 1,500-capacity area in Palm Beach Gardens earlier than the postseason begins, culminating in a best-of-three Finals Series showdown for the SoFi Cup on March 24.
Golfers on every four-player workforce will hit tee and method pictures right into a 64-by-53-foot simulator earlier than shifting to the GreenZone; a inexperienced that may be uniquely rotated and sloped on every gap thanks to a turntable and actuators underneath its floor.
“The playing surfaces are very realistic,” McIlroy defined. “Whenever you hit it out of the rough, you have to think about whether you’re going to get a flyer (or) whether it’s going to come out soft. A lot of things that you would have to think about on a real golf course.”
A single match is contested over two periods, with every match seeing three gamers from every workforce going head-to-head over 15 specifically designed holes and two totally different codecs – 9 holes of triples and six holes of singles.
Triples sees the three gamers on a workforce rotate who hits pictures in addition to taking turns to tee off. The singles format has gamers matched straight with an opponent, with every participant on the workforce of three taking part in two singles holes.
Each gap is price one level, a tied gap is price no factors and the workforce with essentially the most factors on the finish of the match wins. If the scores are degree after 15 holes, a closest to the pin competitors will resolve the winner.
An added aspect of intrigue is the “Hammer,” which permits groups to double the worth of a gap. If it’s accepted by the opposition, a gap is price two factors. The opposition workforce might select to play the “Hammer” on the identical gap making it price three factors however might additionally use it later within the match.
If a workforce declines their opponents’ use of the “Hammer,” they concede the opening and the factors on provide.
The make-up of the groups’ numerous possession teams makes for a who’s who of sporting heavyweights, with tennis sisters Serena and Venus Williams, NBA stars Giannis Antetokounmpo and Steph Curry, in addition to Liverpool soccer membership homeowners Fenway Sports Group (FSG), among the many backers.
Plenty of main winners are littered all through the gamers concerned in TGL, with each Woods and McIlroy additionally participating.
Atlanta Drive GC
Justin Thomas (USA), Patrick Cantlay (USA), Billy Horschel (USA), Lucas Glover (USA)
Boston Common Golf
Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland), Hideki Matsuyama (Japan), Keegan Bradley (USA), Adam Scott (Australia)
Jupiter Links Golf Club
Tiger Woods (USA), Max Homa (USA), Tom Kim (South Korea), Kevin Kisner (USA)
Los Angeles Golf Club
Collin Morikawa (USA), Sahith Theegala (USA), Justin Rose (England), Tommy Fleetwood (England)
New York Golf Club
Matt Fitzpatrick (England), Rickie Fowler (USA), Xander Schauffele (USA), Cameron Young (USA)
The Bay Golf Club
Ludvig Åberg (Sweden), Wyndham Clark (USA), Min Woo Lee (Australia), Shane Lowry (Ireland)
Regular season
January 7: New York GC vs. The Bay GC
January 14: Los Angeles GC vs. Jupiter Links GC
January 21: New York GC vs. Atlanta Drive GC
January 27: Jupiter Links GC vs. Boston Common GC
February 4: Boston Common GC vs. Los Angeles GC
February 17: Atlanta Drive GC vs. Los Angeles GC, Atlanta Drive GC vs. The Bay GC, The Bay GC vs. Boston Common GC
February 18: Jupiter Links GC vs. New York GC
February 24: Los Angeles GC vs. New York GC, Boston Common GC vs. Atlanta Drive GC
February 25: The Bay GC vs. Jupiter Links GC
March 3: The Bay GC vs. Los Angeles GC, New York GC vs.
Boston Common GC
March 4: Jupiter Links GC vs. Atlanta Drive GC
Postseason
Semifinals: March 17, March 18
Finals Series: March 24, March 25