San Francisco will be the fifth of six franchises in Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy’s TMRW Golf League (TGL), the league announced Thursday. TGL San Francisco will be led by former Milwaukee Bucks owner Marc Lasry’s Avenue Capital with Golden State Warriors stars Stephen Curry. Klay Thompson and Andre Iguodala also part of the ownership group. An official team name will be released later this year.
“Avenue is thrilled to be working with Stephen Curry, in partnership with TMRW Sports as a founding TGL team,” Lasry said in a statement. “Our ownership group is excited to become stewards of TGL San Francisco and to represent Northern California, which is the center of tech innovation and is a perfect location for a TGL team in this extraordinary new sports league.
“As we move towards the launch of TGL’s inaugural season in January 2024, TGL San Francisco will be focused on developing an extraordinary team of talented players and we are excited to have Andre and Klay as part of our amazing ownership group.”
Here is a look at the five franchises and ownership groups announced:
- Atlanta Drive GC: led by Atlanta Falcons’ owner Arthur Blank
- TGL Boston: led by John Henry, Tom Werner, Mike Gordon and Fenway Sports Group
- Los Angeles Golf Club: led by Alexis Ohanian of Seven Seven Six as well as Serena and Venus Williams. The Antetokounmpo brothers, Alex Morgan, Servando Carrasco, and Michelle Wie West serve as limited partners.
- TGL New York: led by New York Mets’ owner Steven Cohen
- TGL San Francisco: led by Avenue Sports Fund’s Marc Lasry, Stephen Curry, Andre Iguodala and Klay Thompson
The formation of TGL San Francisco comes on the heels of TGL finalizing its 24-man roster and securing a TV partner to broadcast its matches starting Jan. 9, 2024. Min Woo Lee, Patrick Cantlay, Wyndham Clark, Lucas Glover and Kevin Kisner round out the league and joined players such as Justin Thomas, Jon Rahm, Collin Morikawa as well as Woods and McIlroy.
“Northern California is both the hub of tech innovation and home to world-class golf courses, some of the most-famous players in history and incredible golf fans, which makes San Francisco a natural choice for our next TGL team,” said Mike McCarley, CEO, TMRW Sports Group. “Combining the business expertise of Avenue Capital Group with the championship mentality brought by these NBA superstars, this TGL team will generate a lot of energy in the Bay Area and around the world. We’re honored to welcome them to TGL.”
In partnership with the PGA Tour, TGL will consist of a 15-match regular-season schedule with playoffs to follow. Six teams will face one another in two-hour, head-to-head matches that are meant to be more easily digestible than longer golf events due to their shortened length. Players will strike full shots — both off the tee and approaches into the green — into a simulator with short-game shots happening live in front of fans in the SoFi Center, a new arena built on the Palm Beach State campus in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.
TGL commands the services of seven of the top 10 players in the Official World Golf Rankings. Its roster of players has combined for 32 major championships, 223 PGA Tour victories, 119 international victories and 886 weeks at world No. 1.