Like a leaking faucet, the slow drip of news from Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy’s new tech-infused golf league continued on Monday with more updates to its unique format.
Last week, TGL released its competition format, but this week the league announced that matches would feature a shot clock, timeouts and a referee. That’s right, slow play haters, a shot clock is coming to golf.
Players will have 40 seconds to hit a shot, or else a shot clock violation will incur a one-stroke penalty. Each team will have four timeouts per match, two for each session of play. Similar to the NFL, there is no rollover of unused timeouts, and teams cannot call consecutive timeouts during a single shot.
The league also stated a referee “with experience with timeouts, shot clocks, and the dynamics of team sports” will be on hand, which would hint at a basketball referee. A rules of golf official will also be in a booth to monitor the action. The referee and booth official will be responsible for managing and enforcing the shot clock.
“Instituting a shot clock and timeouts will help make matches entertaining, fast-paced, and exciting for sports fans,” said Mike McCarley, CEO and founder of TMRW Sports and TGL. “These elements also add another level of strategy for the players in how they approach team decisions similar to other sports,”
Six teams of four PGA Tour players will compete in 15 regular season matches, starting Jan. 9, 2024, followed by semifinals and finals matches all at a high-tech short-game complex that was purpose-built on the campus of Palm Beach State College in Florida.
The two competing teams will name their three players ahead of each match, and all six will be mic’d up during the competition. While some teams have already been announced, full team rosters, names, brands and front-office staff will all be announced later this year.