BOSTON, Mass – A new PGA Tour-associated golf league starts January 7 and Boston is represented in one of the six teams.
You’ll recognize the golfers because they’re among the top players in the world, but you’ve likely never seen the version of golf they’ll be playing.
The tech-infused, virtual-reality team golf experience is called TGL (Team Golf League), and Fenway Sports Group, parent company of the Red Sox, Liverpool Football Club, the Pittsburgh Penguins, and the RFK NASCAR team, will be the primary owner of one of the six inaugural TGL teams.
“We consider this to be something that we can help grow and participate in what I think is an innovative idea,” said FSG chairman Tom Werner. “Not just the trajectory of golf as we would call it traditionally with green grass, but golf as it relates to people who play it off-course, either with simulators or the experience of Topgolf. The participation in that actually exceeded traditional green-grass golf last year, and not only that, but there’s been a huge increase in young golfers between the ages of 18 to 34 participating, and this is a perfect format for younger viewers.”
The made-for-TV program is filmed before TV cameras with about 2,000 fans in an indoor TV studio in West Palm Beach, Fla. to be telecast on Tuesday nights in prime time starting Tuesday January 7 on ESPN and other streaming and online channels. There are six teams of three players each — Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele and Justin Thomas are among the pool of 18 players that will hit tee and fairway shots into a screen, with the short game played around greens capable of shifting their shape, bunker placement, and topography for each hole.
The TGL venture marks a first for Fenway Sports Group for a team that’s not going to be competing in Boston or New England.
The challenge for FSG is to find a way to brand and market a team Boston fans can identify with and root for.
“The idea of team sports is that you represent communities, right?” said Werner. “We represent Boston and we think that we’ve been successful in connecting, for example, the Fenway Park experience out to the community. I think the advantage of TMRW Golf is that it can allow for a team sport to grow. We can create this team concept with Boston. That is a thing that we think we’re pretty strong at. When people put on a Red Sox uniform, you connect to them whether or not they’re playing at Fenway Park or they’re playing at Dodger Stadium.”
The Boston Common Golf team includes Rory McIlroy, Keegan Bradley, Adam Scott and Hideki Matsuyama.
The creation and rise of Boston Common Golf will be captured in “unCOMMON: Building a Boston Sports team,” a docuseries debuting on December 26.
This docuseries ventures beyond the game, tracking the highs, lows, successes, and setbacks of turning a groundbreaking idea into reality. From its earliest conceptual stages up to the first play in SoFi Center at TGL, the series documents every moment of this exciting new venture.
https://www.golfpass.com/watch/golf-features/uncommon-building-a-boston-sports-team-trailer
https://tglgolf.com/bostoncommongolf
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