From dream to virtual reality, Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy’s indoor golf league has debut match

MIAMI – After a one-year delay, the new tech-infused indoor golf league created by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy finally launched on Jan 7 in Florida under bright lights in prime time, ushering in what organisers hope would be a new chapter for the sport.

Unlike the genteel atmosphere reserved for typical golf events, Tomorrow’s Golf League (TGL) made a rollicking debut complete with strobe lights, smoke machines, enthusiastic player introductions and a DJ who helped to keep the mood elevated.

The virtual hole designs were also unlike anything players experience on tour, with golfers finding themselves playing on an active volcano, over an ocean cove, in a desert canyon, among mountain peaks and on a boomerang-shaped fairway.

While not competing in the season opener, 15-time Major champion Woods and four-time Major winner McIlroy were among those in attendance and both patrolled the playing area during warmups inside the custom-built arena that seats 1,500 people.

“Considering this was just a dream conjured up – Rory and I were talking about it – it’s hard to believe that dream came into reality and we are able to take golf into another stratosphere, really,” Woods said during the TV broadcast.

“It’s not traditional golf, yes, but it is golf and that’s the main thing and providing a different type of atmosphere.”

The competition is a hybrid of virtual and real-life play, featuring teams of mic’d-up PGA Tour players hitting shots at a five-storey-high simulator screen before moving to a green that can rotate 360 degrees, creating hole-to-hole variations.

The threesomes played alternate shot, or triples, over the opening nine-hole session, then switched to singles for a head-to-head round where each competitor played two full holes over the final six.

After players shook hands, 2019 British Open champion Shane Lowry of The Bay Golf Club realised he forgot his tee and, with a 40-second shot clock ticking, rushed to retrieve one before hitting the first shot in TGL history.

The fast-paced action also featured some unique rules, with Lowry’s team opting to play “The Hammer” early on to double the par-three third’s points value.

Lowry, Wyndham Clark and Ludvig Aberg held a commanding 6-1 lead over New York Golf Club’s Xander Schauffele, Rickie Fowler and Matt Fitzpatrick after the threesomes session before sealing a 9-2 victory.

“It’s absolutely amazing to see this come to fruition,” McIlroy said.

The fans in attendance were allowed to be vocal – kind of different from the marshal at Augusta National holding “quiet” or “no noise” signs. The overall experience was certainly much different, and that was just fine by Aberg.

“It was awesome. I always said I was so jealous of basketball and football players because they get to do this a lot and we don’t,” he said of the atmosphere.

“So this whole stadium-like feel is awesome to be a part of, and it gets you going a little bit differently from a normal golf tournament.”

The indoor league was supposed to launch early in 2024, but was delayed after the inflated dome of the host facility was damaged and later replaced with a steel-supported structure.

Woods will make his TGL debut on Jan 14 with Jupiter Links Golf Club, while Northern Irishman McIlroy is set to make his first start on Jan 27 as part of Boston Common Golf. REUTERS