DORAL, Fla. — The TGL is doing what LIV Golf promises to do.
The virtual golf league, backed by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, has built a roster with PGA Tour players the quality LIV hoped to sign in the last year, and is still anticipating this offseason.
Patrick Cantlay and Wyndham Clark highlighted the latest and final round of signings as TGL settles on 24 players. The league starts in January and will be played Monday nights on the Palm Beach State College campus in Palm Beach Gardens.
LIV and TGL have completely different formats and schedules and are not competing for players. But the possibility of anyone committing to a league run by LIV detractors Woods and McIlroy and also signing with LIV is unknown. Even if TGL is in partnership with the PGA Tour and the Tour is working on an agreement with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which finances LIV, to merge business interests.
From the LIV side, Gary Davidson, who served as LIV’s acting COO before Lawrence Burian was named to the position Monday, said last week he does not believe “there would be a conflict” if a golfer who joined TGL showed interest in LIV.
“We’re open to who may want to play,” Davidson said. “We’re not limiting where our players come (from) to play. We obviously want them to commit to play in our 14-team events. Beyond that, we are very open to them playing in other tour events in other weeks, indeed on Monday night in TGL if they want to. It wouldn’t cause any issues from our side.
“Isn’t something that’s come up as being an issue as yet and I think that there would be room for that.”
LIV would celebrate adding any of the prominent names Woods and McIlroy have inked such as Cantlay, Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas, Rickie Fowler, Collin Morikawa, Matt Fitzpatrick, Xander Schauffele and Max Homa.
Even others like Keegan Bradley, Shane Lowry, Justin Rose, Adam Scott, Cameron Young, Tyrrell Hatton, Tommy Fleetwood and Billy Horschel would be a boost for LIV.
Rendering of the TGL’s SoFi Center, a nearly 250,000 square foot custom-built venue that will accommodate nearly 2,000 people on almost 11 acres within the Palm Beach Gardens Campus of Palm Beach State College. (Photo: TMRW Sports Group)
Everyone from Phil Mickelson and Bubba Watson to LIV commissioner and CEO Greg Norman is anticipating the arrival of more significant players this offseason. LIV’s season ended Sunday with Bryson DeChambeau’s Crushers capturing the team championship at Doral.
“Personally myself, I’m speaking to numerous players who want to come on with LIV,” Norman said.
LIV now heads into an offseason in which it will put the finishing touches on a 14-event 2024 season and rosters will be retooled through a transfer window and promotions event.
Meanwhile, TGL is putting the finishing touches on its venue, an air-supported dome that will hold close to 2,000 people and cover an area almost the size of a football field.
The venue will include a 40-yard-wide short-game complex with three putting surfaces within the 3,800 square-foot green and three sand bunkers.
TGL will consist of six teams each with four PGA Tour players competing head-to-head in 18-hole match play. The matches will be capped at two hours. The schedule will include 15 regular-season Monday night matches followed by semifinals and finals matches.
Four of the six teams have been announced: Los Angeles Golf Club (owned by Alexis Ohanian, Serena Williams and Venus Williams), Boston (owned by Fenway Sports Group), Atlanta Drive GC (owned by Arthur M. Blank) and New York (owned by Steven Cohen and Cohen Private Ventures).
“The more I talked to the other players involved in TGL, the more I wanted to be a part of the competition,” Cantlay said. “This is a great opportunity to move golf forward providing something for our core fans while also showcasing our sport in a new, tech-forward, prime time and more digestible format.”