PGA Tour winners glad ‘rushed’ TGL is delayed

Golf’s newest venture, TGL, was supposed to begin next month.

That was until the venue for the indoor tech-infused golf league collapsed over three weeks ago, resulting in a year-long delay.

The inaugural season of Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods’ Monday night matches will draw 20 of golf’s biggest names against each other, just not yet.

Scheduled to debut on January 9 at the SoFi Center in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, TGL will have to wait until 2025.

A TGL statement in November confirmed that a failure of the temporary power system and backup systems caused the $50 million dome to deflate.

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McIlroy added that the delay was ‘disappointing’, but a handful of competitors believe that could be what the league needed.

According to Rickie Fowler, the ‘rushed’ TGL – considered a rival to LIV Golf – will benefit from the delay.

He told the Palm Beach Post: “It was already in a rushed state, so I think it’s only going to benefit it to start in 2025.”

Fowler remains one of 12 players who have still to be named as a member in one of the six TGL teams.

And the six-time PGA Tour winner isn’t the only player to back the postponement.

Justin Rose, another player without a team after joining TGL in February, said: “We are all coming into it pretty hot.

“I know the concept has been around a year or so, the build-out and the tech, but I’m sure there was always going to be things to work out.

“And as players, we were going to come into it literally seeing it for the first time.”

Billy Horschel, a member of Atlanta Drive GC, added: “We were all excited to get started this year, but we were going to be missing some things. We were all rushing to get it going.

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“Yes, it sucks we have to wait a year. But I think it allow us to get everything under control a little bit better, better understanding about how things are going to work.

“It gives us a year to continue to market and talk about what TGL’s about, how it’s going to work.”

That murkiness surrounding TGL was confirmed by the tight timeline it was working to, mainly because of the window provided by ESPN to televise the competition.

Los Angeles GC’s Sahith Theegala said: “I think it has a chance to even make the product better.

“I know they’ve done crazy amounts of (research and development) with the whole thing and it was an ambitious timeline for sure.

“But a lot of people put in a lot of hard work. I think it’s only going to be better when it does start.”

While no injuries were reported, high winds left officials forced to postpone action in the 250,000 square-foot studio.

It will accommodate 1,600 fans on match nights.

John Turnbull A graduate of the University of Stirling, John joined the bunkered team in 2023 as a Content Producer, with a responsibility for covering all breaking news, tour news, grassroots content and much more besides. A keen golfer, he plays the majority of his golf at Falkirk Golf Club. Top of his 'bucket list' is a round of Pebble Beach... ideally in the company of Gareth Bale.