After over a year in the works, details on Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy’s tech-focused TGL, which begins next January, are becoming increasingly clear.
For example, the 24-player roster for the inaugural season has now been finalised, while we now know more about the purpose-built arena and all-important simulator that will be at the heart of the action. We also know the first player assigned to one of the six TGL teams - Justin Thomas, who will play for Atlanta Drive Golf Club, with the rest to follow in due course.
Now, the format for the competition has been revealed. Six teams of four will take part over the course of the 15 regular season events, followed by the semi-finals and final.
Modern Match Play
Each week two of the six teams will compete over 15 holes in a format dubbed Modern Match Play. Only three of the four players on each team will play on a week-by-week basis.
The 15 holes of action will be divided into two distinct sessions – nine holes of Triples (3 vs 3 alternate shot) and six holes of Singles featuring a rotating head-to-head.
The Triples session will see the three selected players on each team alternate who tees off a hole, with players rotating who takes a shot thereafter.
So, one player tees off for his team followed by a player teeing off from the opposing team. Then the second player from each team takes a shot, followed by the third, then back to the first player from each until the hole is completed.
With the Singles session, six holes will be played.
On the first hole of the session, a player from one team takes on one opponent until it is completed. Then the action moves to the following hole, with the next player in a team taking on the next from the opposing team, before the third hole features the final players from each team.
The action then moves onto the fourth hole of the Singles session, with the players who took part in the opening hole of the session competing against each other again and so on for the remaining two players from each team.
That means that, overall, each player faces the same opponent over two holes until the six Singles holes are completed.
Points System
One point is up for grabs on each hole, and the team with the fewest shots on a hole wins the point. Ties are worth zero points and there are no carryovers.
In the event of a tie between the two teams after the completion of the 15 holes, players will compete in an “overtime tiebreaker.” This will involve a 3-on-3 closest-to-the-pin competition which will be played until one of the two teams hits two shots closer to the pin their their opponent.
A win in either regulation or overtime hands that team two points, while a loss in overtime sees that team win one point. However, any team losing in regulation walks away from the two hours of action empty handed.
Postseason Format
After the 15-match regular season, the top four teams in the table will advance to the semi-final, where the team finishing first plays fourth and the team in second plays third.
The winners of those matches reach the Championship Series, which will have a “best-of-three” structure. The winner of that will be crowned the TGL Champion.
TGL begins on 9 January with coverage on ESPN and ESPN+.
