Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods are certainly reaping the financial rewards from their inaugural TGL season.
The indoor simulator league, created by the two golf stars, wrapped up its maiden campaign on Tuesday as Atlanta Drive GC lifted the SoFi Cup after victory over New York Golf Club in its Finals Series.
GettyAtlanta Drive GC were the first team to pick up the TGL winner’s trophy[/caption]
Billy Horschel, Justin Thomas and Patrick Cantlay helped Atlanta to an epic comeback win by beating New York Golf Club 4-3 in Match 2 of the best-of-three showdown.
The trio fought back after New York’s team of Xander Schauffele, Rickie Fowler and Cameron Young had raced into a 3-0 lead with four holes to play.
And Atlanta were handsomely rewarded for their efforts, as their four-man roster split a $9million (£6.95m) first prize between them.
Lucas Glover completed the quartet pocketing an eye-watering $2.25m (£1.74m) each, while second place certainly paid well too.
New York bagged a $4.5m (£3.48m) team payday for finishing as runners-up, with Matt Fitzpatrick their fourth member.
Despite being the brains behind the new-look virtual competition, both Woods and McIlroy were nowhere to be seen among the TGL‘s top earners.
Their Jupiter Links GC and Boston Common Golf teams ended the season in the league’s bottom two, failing to qualify for the play-offs.
But neither are likely to be complaining from a financial perspective, with Woods still taking a $437,500 (£338,883) cut from his quartet’s overall $1.75m (£1.35m) earnings for finishing in fifth place.
Meanwhile McIlroy bagged a cool $375,000 (£290,606) alongside teammates Keegan Bradley, Adam Scott and Hideki Matsuyama despite coming rock bottom, having lost all five of their matches.
Elsewhere, third place Los Angeles Golf Club, which featured English players Justin Rose and Tommy Fleetwood took home $562,500 (£435,909) each.
GettyCameron Young and Rickie Fowler took home $1.12m for finishing second in the TGL with New York Golf Club[/caption]
This put them just ahead of other beaten semi-finalists The Bay Golf Club, who shared their $2m (£1.54m) total payout four ways to claim $500,000 (£387,475) individually.
With the TGL seeing professional golf played into a giant screen, the format has certainly divided opinion since its launch in January.
But its fair to say its participants have enjoyed themselves, with recently-crowned winner Billy Horschel praising the competition as a breath of fresh air away from the usual demands of the PGA Tour.
The American reflected on its inaugural season after Atlanta followed up their 6-5 victory in Monday’s opener with a thrilling Tuesday fightback.
Horschel said of the TGL: “I think we all have had a lot of fun.
“Obviously it is a little bit of a challenge with everything we’ve got going through the year with our own schedules, but I don’t think anyone has ever walked away and said this felt like a burden.
GettyJustin Thomas and Billy Horschel lifted the TGL’s SoFi Cup just two days after both finished in the top four of the Valspar Championship[/caption]
“It’s just something new and exciting and we all enjoyed it. To walk away as champions with these guys is pretty cool.”
What is TGL?
Simply put, TGL is an indoor simulator golf league featuring the game’s top players.
It takes place at a super high-tech arena called the SoFi Centre in Florida with a live crowd of around 1,500 people.
Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods were the ones who came up with it, with the help of a guy called Mike McCarley, as part of their TMWR Sports venture.
It’s got a bunch of big-name investors, like Serena Williams, Lewis Hamilton, and Fenway Sports Group – who own Liverpool. ESPN and Sky Sports signed up to broadcast it.
How do they compete?
There’s six teams of four, all franchises based on US cities, and all featuring top PGA Tour players. No LIV Golfers.
There is one head-to-head match each week lasting just two hours for a primetime TV slot in the States.
There is also a 40-second shot clock and timeouts and referees to enforce the rules. All of the players are mic’d up to ensure maximum entertainment value.
How does it work?
For shots longer than 50 yards, players hit into this enormous screen, which is 53 foot tall and 64 foot wide.
That’s about 24 times the size of your normal golf simulator. They play off real grass, the rough and the fairways are reflected on the surface, and it even moves to reflect the slope.
The green complex has 600 motorised sensors underneath it and 360 degree rotation to simulate the exact real life scenario facing the players.
The bunkers have the same sand as Augusta National, and they’ve even thought about the direction of the grain around the greens.
Format
Each team picks three players, they play 15 holes. The first nine holes are ‘Trebles’ – three-on-three matchplay, with each player taking turns to hit the shots.
The final six holes are ‘Singles’ – one-on-one matchplay with each player playing 2 holes.
If it’s all square after 15, they go to overtime and play closest to the pin.
Teams get two points for a regulation win, two points for an overtime win, one point for an overtime loss, and zero points for a regulation loss.
There are Play-Offs in March with semi-finals and a final to determine the league’s overall winner – with a $21million purse divided among players.
Teams
Atlanta Drive GC
• Patrick Cantlay
• Lucas Glover
• Billy Horschel
• Justin Thomas
Boston Common Golf
• Keegan Bradley
• Hideki Matsuyama
• Rory McIlroy
• Adam Scott
The Bay Golf Club
• Ludvig Aberg
• Wyndham Clark
• Shane Lowry
• Min Woo Lee
Jupiter Links Golf Club
• Max Homa
• Tom Kim
• Kevin Kisner
• Tiger Woods
Los Angeles Golf Club
• Tommy Fleetwood
• Collin Morikawa
• Justin Rose
• Sahith Theegala
New York Golf Club
• Matt Fitzpatrick
• Rickie Fowler
• Xander Schauffele
• Cameron Young
