For nearly a century, golfers and followers related staff play with worldwide competitions, such because the Ryder Cup or Solheim Cup.
LIV Golf has since modified that. When it launched in 2022, the Saudi-backed circuit included a staff ingredient. 13 squads now exist, every with its personal distinct model and emblem. A few of them have even scored sponsorship offers.
Golf’s newest enterprise, TGL, has additionally embraced staff play. The indoor golf league options six groups, every with 4 PGA Tour execs. Not like LIV, TGL focuses on geography, with groups from Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, New York, Atlanta, and Jupiter, Florida, all part of the league. Granted, these groups don’t function out of these locales, as all of them compete on the SoFi Middle in South Florida. However TGL wished to lean into these markets to garner consideration and spur rivalries between cities like New York and Boston.
Think about if LIV Golf had its personal TGL staff.
In any case, Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton dedicated to becoming a member of TGL earlier than bolting to LIV a yr in the past. However Rahm and Hatton can not play TGL matches since they jumped to LIV. Solely PGA Tour members can.
Regardless of that, Mike McCarley, a TGL founder alongside Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, advised Josh Carpenter of Sports activities Enterprise Journal that, “Sure, completely,” he had an inventory of potential LIV gamers on his thoughts.
So who may that be?
Rahm and Hatton are doubtless on that listing.
Rahm, now a two-time main winner, is without doubt one of the hottest gamers on the planet. He may also be remembered as top-of-the-line gamers of his technology, whether or not he wins one other main or not. Hatton is a top-20 participant, however the unfiltered Englishman additionally waxes poetic together with his phrases on the course all too typically — not in an acceptable method both. That makes him extremely entertaining as a result of no one is aware of what is going to come from Hatton’s mouth. That, coupled together with his potential to contend at majors routinely, makes his play appointment viewing. Rahm has had his truthful encounters with a sizzling mic, too, which might make each of those gamers notable additions to TGL. It’s an leisure product, before everything, and what higher solution to entertain than to have these two fiery and aggressive personalities?
Add Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka, and you’ll have a LIV Golf staff of DeChambeau, Koepka, Rahm, and Hatton.
Discuss fireworks.
DeChambeau is presently the most well-liked participant on the planet, not named Tiger Woods, due to his exponential rise in YouTube subscribers and social media followers. He has change into a cultural icon, taking pictures movies with the President of america and making an attempt hole-in-one tries over his home. His presence in a TGL match would solely enhance scores and assist it in the long term.
Koepka, in the meantime, is a five-time main champion and nonetheless one of the vital formidable gamers on the planet. He has a direct, considerably abrasive character and infrequently tells you precisely how he feels. His nonchalant nature would make it fulfilling for followers to listen to a TGL match.
In fact, contemplating the divisive nature of professional golf, a LIV Golf staff coming into the TGL sphere would ship shockwaves throughout the game. A rivalry would rapidly come up, and the LIV staff would undertake an “us-against-the-world” mentality. That will entertain golf followers in every single place, as Rahm, Hatton, DeChambeau, and Koepka could be the brand new youngsters on the block that no one would wish to mess with.
Jack Milko is a golf workers author for SB Nation’s Taking part in Via. Comply with him on X @jack_milko.
