Rory McIlroy Explains How TGL Differs From LIV As Golf Start-Up

BOSTON — There might be no bigger rival for LIV Golf than Rory McIlroy, so with the former world No. 1 launching his own golf start-up alongside Tiger Woods, is McIlroy practicing what he preaches?

The four-time major champion was formally introduced Monday as one of the four members of Boston Common Golf, one of the teams in TGL. The new tech-driven indoor league launches in January, aiming to bring new, casual fans under the sport’s tent.

While there are major differences between TGL and LIV, the latter was launched under a promise that it would “grow the game.” The jury is out on that part, though it largely has been viewed as a renegade breakaway competitor for the PGA Tour. That’s just one of the handful of differences, according to McIlroy, who was asked Monday how TGL differs from LIV in its pledge to appeal to a bigger audience.

“I think this is meant to be complementary. It’s not meant to be disruptive in any way. So whenever (TMRW Sports cofounder Mike McCarley) brought this idea to Tiger and I, one of the first things we said was, ‘if you’re going to do this, we’re gonna have to try to partner with the PGA Tour in some way and try to make this complementary,’ so I think that was the first thing,” McIlroy explained Monday in a press conference at MGM Music Hall at Fenway. “This wasn’t adversarial at all. It was how can we be additive to the entire system?”

LIV has at the very least changed how fans interact with the sport both in person and on TV. The tournaments have more of a festival feel; for example, fans watching on TV can hear the bass from the on-course DJ booth in the background while watching the coverage (golf but louder, right?). Speaking of TV coverage, LIV also tried to transform how the game was presented on TV with varying levels of success and innovation.

However, despite the 54-hole, no-cut events, LIV tournaments are largely professional golf as fans have come to expect it. TGL, as McIlroy argued, is completely different than the golf fans see when they tune into either tour on the weekend.

“I think when you look at, we’re not pretending to be — we’re pretending to be competitive and it’s a different type of golf, it’s not the type of traditional golf you see week in and week out,” McIlroy, who has been one of LIV’s biggest critics, explained Monday. “So I don’t want to sit here and talk about LIV, but I think you can make an argument they haven’t innovated enough away from what traditional golf is, or they’ve innovated too much that they’re not traditional golf. They’re sort of caught in no man’s land where this is so far removed from what we know golf to be.”

The compelling backdrop to all of this is the framework agreement between the PGA Tour and the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF), the entity that financially backs LIV Golf. While that agreement won’t get in the way of TGL, it’s a huge domino that still needs to fall in the short- and long-term future of golf.