PALM BEACH, Florida- What will golf look like in the future? Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy have broken ground for a stadium-like facility that will host their “TMRW“–new golf concept.
The ceremonial groundbreaking took place with Tiger and Rory presenting a check to Palm Beach State College for a million bucks while the others on the PGA Tour were practicing up the road for the Honda Classic. TMRW (pronounced ‘tomorrow‘) will be headquartered on the PBSC campus and the indoor facility will be ready for play to begin next year.
Palm Beach State College in Lake Worth is formerly Palm Beach Community College with a nice parcel of vacant land available – perfect for the high tech golf league of the future.
The arena will host a league and the Woods/McIlroy venture was formed in partnership with the PGA TOUR. Of course Tiger is the longtime face of the Tour and Rory has stepped up in his role as ‘Defender of the Faith‘ in the ongoing controversy with the LIV Golf League.
Play at the arena on the PBSC campus should begin in early 2024 and players committed to the league include World #1 Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas, Colin Morikawa, Matt Fitzpatrick, Max Homa, Billy Horschel, Justin Rose and Xander Schauffele. That list has six players in the world’s top 10.
THOMAS CORDY/THE PALM BEACH POST
“In terms of fan experience, it’s going to be nothing like golf has ever offered before,” Rory said.
This new high-tech, indoor league will be played on Monday nights and will take only two hours of prime time on television. Fans will all be very close to the action. There will be a series of 15 matches in the league’s regular season followed by semi-final and final playoffs.
There will be six teams with three Tour Players per team. I wonder where they got that idea. But they won’t have similar names as the LIV teams.
What the arena will include is a short-game complex for chipping and putting after players hit drives and approach shots into a huge high-tech simulator.
“We’re going to have excitement and something different that is passionate,” said Tiger. “We’ve been involved in teams before whether it was Ryder Cup, President’s Cup, or Irish national teams. For me high school and college. Whatever it is, you’re going to get home and away matches, and get some people that you want to win. We’re going to have that type of excitement. ”
“OH and Yes– there will be Betting! Wagering is a part of our sport, part of our culture,” added Woods as he turned and looked at Rory. “We don’t know how to play golf without it.”
It will be an intimate fan experience and for the telecast, players will be mic’d up on all shots. Obviously Tiger will have to watch his language or perhaps the network will have a five-second delay button.
Golf Channel President Mike McCarley is one of the TMRW co-founders and he said the arena will sit on a 10-acre parcel. The TMRW partnership will also have educational and recreational initiatives that will benefit PBSC students. The initiatives will offer select students paid internships and other opportunities in technology, hospitality and administrative services.
“Think about how cool this will be for the school to become the launching pad for future leaders in sports, media and technology as they learn here as part of TMRW,” McCarley offered. “We are breaking ground on much more than a dream, much more than a prime-time golf league.”
“Additionally, it is going to give the viewer at home and the folks in the arena more of an in-depth of how we do things and think through things in our head,” added McIlroy. “It’s just a more in depth look into that.”
Think and say what you may about LIV, it is amazing how this new Tiger and Rory initiative has come to fruition in such a short span of time. It’s all good for those of us who love golf- playing and watching.
https://www.tmrwsportsgroup.com/
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