Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods’s indoor golf venture has been postponed after the purpose-built venue in Florida was damaged.
The TGL, a new team golf league, was due to start early next year but has now been pushed back to 2025, after the SoFi Center in Palm Beach Gardens suffered a power cut which deflated parts of the venue’s air-supported dome.
An official statement said: “Overnight on Tuesday 14 November, a failure of temporary power system and backup systems used during construction caused the dome to deflate, which caused damage to the air-supported dome section of the site.
“Following discussions with key partners, including players, our six team ownership groups, PGA Tour leadership and our commercial partners, SoFi, ESPN and Palm Beach State College, the decision has been made to postpone the start of the TGL season until early 2025,” the statement added.
🚨⛳️😓 #WATCH: A drone video shows the extensive damage done to the dome at the SoFi Center, home to Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy’s new @tglgolf simulator league.
— NUCLR GOLF (@NUCLRGOLF) November 17, 2023
(Via: @pbpost) pic.twitter.com/t1J3kOQIlu
In a separate statement, Woods said: “Although the events of last week will force us to make adjustments to our timelines, I’m fully confident that this concept will be brought to life by our great committed players.”
“The postponement brings mixed feelings of disappointment and excitement,” said McIlroy. “Above all, we are happy that no one was injured.” The venue, situated on the Palm Beach State College campus, covers an area of 250,000 square feet.
It will be able to hold up to 2,000 spectators for the event, which 24 PGA Tour players have signed up for. They are set to compete in six teams, with Woods representing Jupiter Links and McIlroy leading the Boston Common team.
Spieth replaces McIlroy on PGA Tour board
Jordan Spieth will serve the remainder of Rory McIlroy’s term as a player director the PGA Tour’s policy board. The PGA commissioner, Jay Monahan, announced the change to Tour members on Monday.
Spieth’s selection was voted on by the five other player directors: Tiger Woods, Patrick Cantlay, Charley Hoffman, Peter Malnati and Webb Simpson. The term runs through to the end of 2024.
“With Rory McIlroy resigning from the PGA Tour Policy Board last week, per the PGA Tour Tournament Regulations, the five remaining Player Directors have elected Jordan Spieth to serve the remainder of Rory’s term which expires at the end of 2024,” Monahan wrote to members, according to an email obtained by Golf Channel.
“Jordan has extensive experience with the Tour’s governance process, having served two years on the Player Advisory Council (2017-18) including PAC Chairman in 2018 and three years (2019-21) as a Player Director.”
McIlroy resigned last week, saying he wanted to spend less time embroiled in the politics of golf. He also acknowledged that the agreement between the PGA Tour and DP World Tour with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which backs LIV Golf, over future cooperation affected his role on the board.
“I like being busy but I like being busy doing my own thing,” said McIlroy. “It just got to the point where I couldn’t fit it all in. I’m thinking as we go into the next year, as I try to get ramped up for Augusta and all those tournaments, I just can’t see me putting the time and the energy into it.
“If I feel like I’m not prepared going into those meetings then it is better off if someone else takes my place, who is able to put the time and the energy into it,” he added. “There’s only so many hours in the day and so many days in the week and I’ve got a lot going on in my life right now.”
Spieth, 30, is a 13-time winner on the PGA Tour with major victories at the Masters (2015), US Open (2015) and the Open (2017).