Tiger Woods is set to make his return to competitive golf for the first time in a blockbuster matchup against Rory McIlroy for the return of TGL.
Woods ruptured his achilles in March, ruling him out of the Masters and pretty much everything since. The 15-time major winner broke cover in September and was seen hitting balls in a positive injury update. ESPN has now confirmed the schedule for Season 2 of TGL and he will face off against McIlroy on March 1.
McIlroy and Woods are both co-founders of TGL, and will face each other in TGL’s first primetime Sunday night match following the conclusion of the PGA Tours Cognizant Classic. McIlroy represents Boston Common Golf and Woods represents Jupiter Links.
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The network debut on ABC will be a rematch of last season’s thrilling finals between Atlanta Drive GC and runner-up New York Golf Club, where both finals matches were determined by a single point.
Mike McCarley, a Founder and CEO of TMRW Sports and TGL says that it “returns for Season 2 with an elevated experience for fans at SoFi Center and those watching at home.”
“We worked with our partner at ESPN on an enhanced schedule for our second season that includes TGL’s broadcast network debut on ABC,” he said.
In the fourth match of the season, Woods and Jupiter Links will face Season 1 runners-up New York Golf Club. Last season, New York staged an incredible comeback as they made the playoffs and reached the Finals after starting off with two losses.
New York includes Cameron Young, Xander Schauffele, and Matt Fitzpatrick, and alongside Woods will be Max Homa, Tom Kim, and Kevin Kisner.
Last season, New York dominated Jupiter to earn their very first victory after switching up their introduction music and eventually coming out on top 10-3. Woods, Kisner, and Kim struggled to get anything going early on.
TGL features six teams made of top PGA Tour players and is a 15-match regular season that includes seven matches in a nine days that represents nearly half of the regular season.
The top four teams make the TGL playoffs, and include a best-of-three Finals on Monday, March 23.
According to ESPN chief Rosalyn Durant, TGL “delivered everything we had hoped for in its first season: an innovative new sports product, good competition among the stars of the PGA Tour and a strong audience.”
The season will run from December 28 to March 3, with the top teams advancing to the playoffs at the end of March. Throughout the season, matches will air in the U.S. on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and the ESPN App.
