Golf’s techiest new league is slowly coming online.
The TGL, a simulator golf league led by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, announced its first broadcast team on Thursday morning, spotlighting the group of TV and digital media pros who will face the challenge of bringing the first-of-its-kind league to life on ESPN in January.
Beloved golf TV voice Scott Van Pelt will lead off the proceedings for the TGL, serving as the broadcast’s “host.” Van Pelt will add the TGL to his current ESPN golf portfolio, which includes the Masters and PGA Championship, though his role for the TGL will resemble his role for ESPN’s Monday Night Football coverage. Van Pelt will host pregame and intermission coverage from his SportsCenter studio in Washington, D.C., a role that will also include some player interviews.
Once the action begins, Van Pelt will hand over broadcasting duties to a pair of fellow Masters and PGA Championship TV voices, Matt Barrie and Marty Smith, who will serve as ESPN’s play-by-play and sideline reporters, respectively. The league has said its broadcasts will aim to provide unprecedented access to the league’s players, including an open line of microphones between those broadcasting the action and those competing within it. That means interesting things for both Barrie and Smith, who will speak to the teams in real time as the action is unfolding.
On the digital side, my GOLF.com colleague Claire Rogers will join NESN Red Sox sideline reporter Jahmai Webster as hosts of the TGL’s second-screen efforts on ESPN+, taking viewers behind the scenes of life on the TGL. Roger Steele, another popular golf creator, will handle emcee duties.
The announcement marks the latest major step toward bringing the TGL to life after its inaugural season was postponed by a generator failure last December. The league, which includes six franchises and 24 PGA Tour players, will bring golf to primetime audiences on Monday and Tuesday nights in the winter months. A custom-built facility named the SoFi Center in Palm Beach, Fla. will house each of the TGL’s competitions, featuring players competing on a giant simulator screen on virtual golf courses designed exclusively for the league. (If you have more questions about the competitive design of the league, you can check out the video explainers on the TGL YouTube page.)
Of course, the broader push of the TGL is to deliver a television product that golf fans will want to watch each week, allowing the league to make money from selling its TV rights. The league has no shortage of institutional support, counting the PGA Tour, the billionaire sports magnates behind the Strategic Sports Group, and corporate partners like Genesis and SoFi among its partners, in addition to Woods and McIlroy. The hope is that the new league will appeal to younger golf fans, including those in cities with increased exposure to simulator golf, giving Woods a platform to play competitively as his PGA Tour career moves increasingly part-time.
Play in the TGL will begin with the league’s first two-hour match on Tuesday, January 7, and will continue on Mondays and Tuesdays through March 25, 2025.
