Top players join the Screen Golf League (TGL) created by Woods one after another
Last year, when the LIV Golf Invitational Series was launched with capital from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the American Professional Golf (PGA) tour was hit hard. This is because a large number of top rankers transferred. Starting with veteran Phil Mickelson (53, USA), Dustin Johnson (42, USA), who was ranked first in the world rankings, Bryson DeChambo (30, USA), the best hitter on the tour, and Brooks Koepka (33, USA), the “major hunter” Then, even Cameron Smith (30, Australia), who swept three wins last season alone, including the Major D Open, gave up on the PGA Tour.
In this situation, the players who firmly defended the PGA Tour by criticizing the players who left for the LIV series as ‘traitors’ are Tiger Woods (48, USA), the ‘golf emperor’, and Rory McIlroy (34, Northern Ireland), the world’s No. 1 player. Woods was offered $1 billion (approximately 1.3 trillion won) as a condition of joining the LIV series, but declined it. The tournament, created by Woods and McIlroy in harmony to protect the PGA Tour, is about to be launched next January as the Screen Golf League (TGL).
Star players are joining TGL one after another. Sports Illustrated reported on the 25th that Colin Morikawa (25, USA) and Adam Scott (43, Australia) decided to participate in TGL. Morikawa, ranked 8th in the world, has 5 wins, including 2 wins in major tournaments such as the PGA Championship and The Open. Scott won 14 tour victories, including the Masters in 2013, and rose to No. 1 in the world rankings. As a result, the number of top players joining TGL has increased to four, following World Ranking 3rd place Yon Ram (29, Spain) and 9th place Justin Thomas (30, USA) who previously expressed their intention to participate.
TGL is a golf league created by TMRW Sports, a joint venture between Woods and McIlroy. Six teams of three PGA tour players compete in screen golf, and 15 tournaments are scheduled to be held every Monday. It is a structure in which the top players play on Mondays when PGA Tour tournaments are not held and share a huge amount of prize money, and it is expected to become a new profitable golf league by combining cutting-edge information and communication (IT) technology. In particular, TGL is expected to serve as a window for financial compensation for top players who resist the temptation of the LIV series and remain on the PGA Tour.