WOODS, MCILROY DIG INTO NEW PROJECT
Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy put the silver-plated shovels into a pile of dirt and left sizable divots.
With that, their high-tech golf league got a bit closer to launch.
The ceremonial groundbreaking for the arena that will house the league that’s being called TGL was held Tuesday at Palm Beach State College, with Woods and McIlroy — two of the co-founders of TMRW Sports — there for the first step of actual construction.
TMRW — pronounced “tomorrow” — says TGL play will begin early next year, and the league will be in partnership with the PGA Tour. Woods and McIlroy, so far, have 11 players committed to the league. Besides them, the league will include world No. 1 Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas, Adam Scott, Collin Morikawa, Matt Fitzpatrick, Max Homa, Billy Horschel, Justin Rose and San Diego State alum Xander Schauffele.
That list includes six players currently ranked 10th or better in the world, plus the game’s biggest draw in Woods.
“In terms of fan experience, it’s going to be nothing like golf has offered before,” McIlroy said.
The concept is this: six teams of three PGA Tour players, squaring off in match play on a data-driven virtual course that also includes a short-game complex for chipping and putting.
It’ll be played on Monday nights, and will take only two hours, with in-arena fans all very close to the action. There will be 15 matches in the regular
season, followed by semifinals and a final.
“We’re going to have excitement, we’re going to have something different, something that is passionate,” Woods said. “We’ve been involved in teams before whether it’s Ryder Cup, President’s Cup, Irish national teams, for me high school, college, whatever it is. You’re going to get home and away, you’re going to get some people that you want to win and not win. We’re going to have that type of excitement.”
And you can bet on it. Literally, Woods pointed out.
“Wagering is part of our sport, part of our culture,” Woods said, then turned and looked at McIlroy. “We don’t know how to play golf without it.”
Access is part of the allure of the concept, along with the technology. Only a handful of fans at typical golf events can get close to the action, and
they’re often running from hole to hole to stay with a certain group.
TGL players will be mic’dup, and fans won’t have to guess what their thought processes are on certain shots.
“It’s going to give the viewer at home and also the people in the arena just more of an indepth of sort of how we do things and how we sort of think through things in our head,” McIlroy said. “It’s just a more in-depth look into that.”
She’s very busy
To ask Michelle Wie West what she is up to these days is not likely to yield a short answer.
When she is not chasing around 2-year-old daughter McKenna or learning to grow vegetables in her garden, the former U.S. Women’s Open champion is keeping a steady presence in business and in golf, and they don’t always intersect.
Her latest venture is a project with corporate partner PitchBook and Front Office Sports. It’s called “Driven with Michelle Wie West,” a series of 12-minute videos in which she interviews athletes about their drive and how they choose to invest.
Her guests so far have featured two-time WNBA All-Star Chiney Ogwumike (they were at Stanford together) and beach volleyball player Kerri Walsh Jennings.
“A lot of them I knew personally,” Wie West said. “It’s a chance to learn about their journey. We’ve known these women and we know what they can do. This is more about the investment side.”
The first season was filmed in one day.
“A lot of wardrobe changes, a lot of research,” she said. “It was really fun, really organic.”
Goydos at 700
Paul Goydos used to work as a substitute teacher and had no idea if he would ever make it as a PGA Tour player, or how long he would last.
That made last week at the Chubb Classic telling. Goydos now has played 700 tournaments on the PGA Tour (511) and PGA Tour Champions (189).
“For me, it just means that I’ve been able to grind things out,” Goydos said.
“If you would have asked me if I was 20 years old if I’d have one start, I would have been surprised. So having 700 is great. It’s a bonus.”
Goydos didn’t just show up. He won at Bay Hill in 1996 and the Sony Open in 2007. His combined earnings on both tours is over $20 million.