Golf-TGL's fast-paced virtual experiment hopes to attract new golf fans

By Frank Pingue

Jan 7 (Reuters) - Some of the best golfers in the world will swap picturesque fairways for the virtual world on Tuesday when they help kick off the indoor league founded by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy that hopes to cultivate a newer and younger audience.

TGL is the brainchild of TMRW Sports, a company co-founded by Woods and McIlroy in August 2022 shortly after the launch of the Saudi-backed LIV Golf circuit that used guaranteed paydays to siphon off several top PGA Tour players.

Woods, the best player of his generation, called TGL "the next evolution within professional golf" when it was announced and four-times major champion McIlroy said it would "widen the appeal of golf to younger and more diverse fans."

In a hybrid of virtual and real-life action, the team event beginning at 9 p.m. ET (0200 GMT) will see PGA Tour players take aim at a five-storey-high simulator screen from hitting areas made up of real fairway grass, real rough and real sand.

When players are within approximately 50 yards of the hole they will hit shots into an actual tech-infused green that can rotate 360 degrees, creating hole-to-hole variations.

So instead of walking many of the most scenic golf courses in the world, the 24 players who make up TGL's six teams will be competing in a coliseum environment at a custom-built arena in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida that seats 1,500 people.

And unlike traditional golf where 18-hole rounds can last up to five hours, TGL's 15-hole, made-for-TV matches will take two hours to complete and incorporate elements from other sports like basketball, American football and ice hockey.

The opening match will feature New York Golf Club's Xander Schauffele, Rickie Fowler and Matt Fitzpatrick against The Bay Golf Club's Shane Lowry, Wyndham Clark and Ludvig Aberg.

Ireland's Lowry, the 2019 British Open champion, will have the honour of hitting the first shot in TGL history when he steps up to The Plank, a 380-yard, par-four hole that features an uphill, zig-zagging fairway.

The threesomes will play alternate shot, or triples, over the opening nine-hole session before switching to singles, which is a head-to-head round where each competitor will play two full holes over the final six holes.

Players will be mic'd up, teams will have four timeouts per match and, in a bid to prevent slow play, golfers will be paced by a 40-second shot clock. Matches tied through 15 holes will be decided by a closest-to-the-pin competition.

(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto)

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