Rory McIlroy Is Making Golf Faster With His New(ish) League. Omega Is Here to Time It.
· Yahoo Sports
Golf, like every other sport, is on the hunt for younger viewers. And at this point, it looks like the agreed-upon solution is team golf. It’s better for TV, better for social media, and when you watch something like Ryder Cup, just more liable to get far-reaching attention.
As with everything in golf, it falls on recently drawn party lines. LIV Golf—the Saudi Public Investment Fund-backed competitor to the PGA Tour—is trying to market itself with team uniforms and a Frankensteined team-slash-solo setup. On the other side, there’s TMRW Golf League (TGL), which is funded by the PGA Tour, Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, and a handful of America’s biggest sports team investors. It’s a similar concept to the LIV playbook—engineer the game feel faster so it’s better for screens—but plays with a simulator screen and morphable green. It’s weird, and I had to get used to it. But it’s weird in the right direction. I think it’s got a better chance of survival than LIV Golf, so you might want to get acquainted.
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Tonight and tomorrow, March 23 and 24, are the TGL Finals. This is the conclusion of the league’s second season, a bit of a watershed moment. I got on a call with Rory McIlroy (who is only an investor and a pundit this week, since his team, Boston Common, is knocked out) and Omega (the league’s official timekeeper) to see where the league is headed.
“I think this season, the second season, is where it’s really found its feet,” McIlroy says of TGL.Rich Storry/TGLEsquire: How's it feel going into the second TGL final—as a player, fan, investor?
Rory McIlroy: It feels good. I think last season was definitely like getting people used to the format and and how everything went. It sort of felt like this novelty within golf. And then I think this season, the second season, is where it's really found its feet. People understand it more. They realize that it's not traditional golf—and that's not really what we wanted it to be.
That means it's certainly not for everyone, but at the same time, we've been really excited about the younger demographics that we've seen watching it. Right now, I think the PGA Tour average age of viewership is like 61 or 62; TGL is about 20, 25 years younger.
It's been a long process. We started talking and thinking about TGL right after the pandemic. So it's been five or six years now, and it's really cool to see it come to fruition. We've got WTGL coming in a little bit, which is going to be exciting, a great platform for the women to showcase their skills. And in the men's TGL, we've got an extra two teams coming in next year. So, that’s a new league and four or eight fresh faces—maybe not so fresh, but new people to TGL. I think it's all headed in a really good direction.
I was just talking with a Tour pro and TGL player, and he said he was instantly surprised at how invested he felt himself and the other guys get. What’s surprised you in years one and two?
We tried to make the economics of it all very attractive to players—simply so that they would play. But beyond that, I think the player buy-in has been amazing from the top guys all the way down to.
I think it's been actually a really good platform for some of the young up-and-comers. It's helped them to come out of their shells and blossom and spend time with us a little bit more. I’m thinking of like a Chris Gotterup or a Michael Thorbjornsen. Some of these younger guys that have been able to come in, get some confidence from being in that environment, and then that's translated into really good play on the PGA Tour.
McIlroy at the TGL Semifinals on March 17, 2026.James Gilbert/TGL - Getty ImagesThat’s where I see the league function a bit like Ryder Cup. It’s a different structure, obviously, but you get newcomers, fresh faces, interacting with legends of the sport like yourself and Tiger Woods. As a fan, it’s something that’s cool to see.
We have Michael Thorbjornsen on our team and the fact that he's been able to spend so much time around myself, Adam Scott, Keegan [Bradley], and Hideki [Matsuyama]—I don't think he would have had that opportunity otherwise. He's a pretty quiet guy by nature. So it’s been really cool to see him him open up and become a bit more confident.
Pundit time. Who do you think will win the final?
Well, I'd say if Collin [Morikawa] wasn't hurt, you’d have got the current number three-, five-, and six-ranked in the world: him, Tommy [Fleetwood], and Justin [Rose]. Still, with Tommy, Justin, and Sahith Theegala, that’s hard to bet against.
But, I think for the league it would be great if Jupiter were to win. Obviously it’s Tiger's team, and anything with Tiger has more exposure and more eyeballs. So, if I'm if I'm putting my investor-slash-founder hat on, I'd say that's that’s the best result for the health of the league. But it’s two great teams, and there’s a lot of personalities within the teams. Regardless of the result, I think it'll be a fun couple of nights. Next thing is just looking forward.
What is “forward,” for TGL? You already mentioned a women’s league, new teams, but what are y’all pushing towards?
Demographics are a big thing. Getting the women involved, giving them their own platform. That is going to be awesome, and it's a great opportunity for women on the LPGA as a whole. For men’s, two extra teams will give us eight extra players, and it'll make the league more competitive.
And then with the schism that's in golf at the minute, TGL could help guys come back to the Tour. Brooks [Koepka] just came back to the PGA Tour; that might be a way to get him involved in TGL. Maybe if some others come back, it could be a good way to get them involved. That's a that's a big opportunity as well.
Then obviously, we planned the SoFi Center as the home of TGL. But if we can figure out a way to give it more locations—either build another facility in a different location, or if we can mobilize the technology and get it to travel to different arenas around the country—I think that would be a big next step.
That’s been my biggest thought whenever I tune in. Like, in my case, an event in Atlanta would give me a reason to root for my hometown team, and not just Los Angeles because I like Tommy Fleetwood or The Bay because I like Shane Lowry.
Yeah, it’s obviously easier said than done, but I think that's the next thing. You know, for the most part, it is a made-for-TV product, so it doesn't really need to travel. But being able to do a TGL Roadshow type thing would be pretty cool.
And let me ask about the important stuff: watches. Why Omega? What makes it the right partnership for TGL?
Omega has live-timing experience with the Olympics. The brand has been a wonderful supporter of me and my career over the years, but also a wonderful supporter of golf. They've partnered with some of the biggest tournaments in golf, and they're a big supporter of sport as a whole. It's been a huge vote of confidence for TGL to get someone like Omega on board.
Also, we have a shot clock and a timing aspect to the game, so I just think it makes perfect sense. And you know, since this is partly my venture, I feel like I've become part of the family. It's nice when you know people that will step up and support some of the other things that you're doing as well.
Whenever I’m texting with my buddies, I joke that y’all ought to get some watches with a 40-second shot clock complication made—add them to the championship purse.
[Laughs] That’s actually pretty good.
That one’s free, y’all can use that.
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