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Mark Schlabach, ESPN Senior Writer
The inaugural season of TGL presented by SoFi, the tech-infused golf league fronted by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, will tee off Jan. 7 on ESPN, the league announced Monday.
New York Golf Club, led by two-time major champion Xander Schauffele and Rickie Fowler, will square off against The Bay Golf Club, which includes Ludvig Åberg and Wyndham Clark, in the first TGL match on Jan. 7 (9 p.m. ET, ESPN and ESPN+).
“In partnership with ESPN, our season will complement the PGA TOUR’s FedEx Cup Season with a fast-paced team competition that aims to captivate a wide range of sports fans with elements, like a shot clock, that are familiar to fans of other sports,” TMRW Sports CEO and founder Mike McCarley said in a statement. “TGL’s two-hour matches are perfect for prime time and will help bring more fans closer to some of the biggest names in golf.”
Woods’ Jupiter Links Golf Club will face Los Angeles Golf Club in the second match on Jan. 14 (7 p.m. ET, ESPN and ESPN+).
Woods, 48, announced on Sept. 13 that he had undergone another surgery on his lower back to try to relieve spasms that plagued him this season. It was the sixth surgery on his lower back in the past 10 years.
The 15-time major champion didn’t say how long the recovery would take.
Three of four players from each team will compete in the two-hour TGL matches. Woods’ teammates are Max Homa, Tom Kim and Kevin Kisner.
Woods’ team will play McIlroy’s Boston Common Golf in the fourth match on Jan. 27 (6:30 p.m. ET, ESPN and ESPN+). U.S. Ryder Cup team captain Keegan Bradley, Adam Scott and Hideki Matsuyama will also compete on McIlroy’s team.
Each of TGL’s 15 regular-season matches will air on either ESPN or ESPN2 and will stream on ESPN+. There will be a Presidents Day tripleheader on ESPN and ESPN2 on Feb. 17.
The final week of the regular season will include matches between what the circuit hopes will be regional rivalries: The Bay Golf Club vs. Los Angeles Golf Club; New York Golf Club vs. Boston Common Golf; and Jupiter Links Golf Club vs. Atlanta Drive GC.
The top four teams will compete in the semifinals on March 17-18. The winners will compete for the SoFi Cup in a best-of-three finals on March 24-25.
