LIV Golf stars could add an enticing element to Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy’s TGL league.
For almost a century, golfers and fans associated team play with international competitions, such as the Ryder Cup or Solheim Cup.
LIV Golf has since changed that. When it launched in 2022, the Saudi-backed circuit incorporated a team element. Thirteen squads now exist, each with its own distinct brand and logo. Some of them have even scored sponsorship deals.
Golf’s latest venture, TGL, has also embraced team play. The indoor golf league features six teams, each with four PGA Tour pros. Unlike LIV, TGL focuses on geography, with teams from Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, New York, Atlanta, and Jupiter, Florida, all a part of the league. Granted, those teams do not operate out of those locales, as they all compete at the SoFi Center in South Florida. But TGL wanted to lean into those markets to garner attention and spur rivalries between cities like New York and Boston.
Imagine if LIV Golf had its own TGL team.
After all, Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton committed to joining TGL before bolting to LIV a year ago. But Rahm and Hatton cannot play TGL matches since they jumped to LIV. Only PGA Tour members can.
Despite that, Mike McCarley, a TGL founder alongside Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, told Josh Carpenter of Sports Business Journal that, “Yes, absolutely,” he had a list of potential LIV players on his mind.
So who could that be?
Rahm and Hatton are likely on that list.
Rahm, now a two-time major winner, is one of the most popular players in the world. He will also be remembered as one of the best players of his generation, whether he wins another major or not. Hatton is a top-20 player, but the unfiltered Englishman also waxes poetic with his words on the course all too often — not in an appropriate way either. That makes him incredibly entertaining because nobody knows what will come from Hatton’s mouth. That, coupled with his ability to contend at majors routinely, makes his play appointment viewing. Rahm has had his fair encounters with a hot mic, too, which would make both of these players notable additions to TGL. It’s an entertainment product, first and foremost, and what better way to entertain than to have these two fiery and competitive personalities?
Add Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka, and you will have a LIV Golf team of DeChambeau, Koepka, Rahm, and Hatton.
Talk about fireworks.
DeChambeau is currently the most popular player on the planet, not named Tiger Woods, thanks to his exponential rise in YouTube subscribers and social media followers. He has become a cultural icon, shooting videos with the President of the United States and attempting hole-in-one tries over his house. His presence in a TGL match would only increase ratings and help it in the long run.
Koepka, meanwhile, is a five-time major champion and still one of the most formidable players in the world. He has a direct, somewhat abrasive personality and often tells you exactly how he feels. His nonchalant nature would make it enjoyable for fans to hear a TGL match.
Of course, considering the divisive nature of pro golf, a LIV Golf team entering the TGL sphere would send shockwaves across the sport. A rivalry would quickly arise, and the LIV team would adopt an “us-against-the-world” mentality. That would entertain golf fans everywhere, as Rahm, Hatton, DeChambeau, and Koepka would be the new kids on the block that nobody would want to mess with.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Follow him on X @jack_milko.