Rory McIlroy distinguished between his TGL series and LIV Golf, characterising the Saudi-backed league as a “No man’s land” that stands apart from the traditional golf landscape, which continues to uphold the standards of the PGA Tour.

During a recent conversation, McIlroy discussed his partnership with Tiger Woods and the PGA Tour in creating the high-tech, indoor, simulated golf league. He emphasised that the new league is designed to complement, rather than disrupt, the traditional golf scene, in a clear dig at LIV.

McIlroy stressed the importance of collaborating with the PGA Tour to ensure their product would augment the existing golf ecosystem rather than pose as direct competition. This way, golf fans would have more variety in the sport’s content consumption while maintaining the trust and values that the PGA provides.

“I think when you look at, we are [just] pretending to be competitive. It’s a different type of golf, but it is not the traditional golf that you see week in and week out,” the Irish golfer explained in the video.

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“I do not want to sit here and talk about LIV, but I think you could make the argument that they have innovated enough away from what traditional golf is, or they have innovated too much that they are not traditional golf. They are sort of caught in no man’s land, where this is so far removed from what we know golf to be.”

The TGL is a team-based game comprising six teams, each featuring three PGA Tour players who will compete against each other in an 18-hole match played on a virtual course. The tournament will begin on January 9, 2024, at the SoFi Center in Florida. The matches will be two hours long and part of a fifteen-match schedule, culminating in a finals match at the end of the season.

There are six golf teams, each owned by different individuals or organisations. The Los Angeles Gold Club is owned by Alexis Ohanian, Venus Williams, and Serena Williams. Fenway Sports Group owns the Boston Common Gold team, while Arthur Blank owns the Atlanta Drive GC. Seven Cohen owns TGL New York, and TGL San Francisco is co-owned by Marc Lasry and NBA Champion Stephen Curry.

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Although the league differs significantly from traditional golf, Rory McIlroy has previously expressed dissatisfaction with LIV and any potential merger with the PGA Tour. According to him, the organisation has “fractured” the traditional game of golf with its distinct rules.

For instance, PGA Tour tournaments are played over four rounds, while LIV reduces its tournaments to three rounds. In PGA Tour events, players compete through 72 holes and are gradually eliminated after 36 holes based on their performance.

LIV events consist of 54 holes, and all players get paid, regardless of their finish. Additionally, LIV competitions have a team component, while PGA Tour events are strictly individual competitions, except for the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup. However, LIV players are not eligible to participate in these two events.

PGA Tour events offer Official World Golf Ranking points, which enables tour members to accumulate points in every tournament they participate in. As they climb up the ranking ladder, their chances of qualifying for Major Championships, such as The Open Championship, increase.

LIV Golf events do not provide any World Ranking points, however, which has been a major sticking point in the legal battle between the two tours. As a result, LIV players have seen their World Rankings drop as they need help to fit other events into their schedules where ranking points are at stake.

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