Posted about this in the PGA Tour thread but it can probably be a stand alone thread. Details are starting to trickle out including rosters and format. It seems a bit hokey to me but they have some serious committment and investments so we'll see how it goes.
Apparently this kicks off January 9th and will be played on Monday's in the winter.
Not all of the rosters have been announced but this is the teams so far:
Boston - Owned by FSG, roster is Rory McIlroy, Tyrrell Hatton, Adam Scott, Keegan Bradley
Atlanta - Owned by Arthur Blank..JT is the only announced player
New York- Owned by Steven Cohen...no players named yet
LA - Owned by Alexis Ohanian. Serena Williams and others...Collin Morikawa is the only player named
San Francisco - Minority owners include Steph Curry, Klay Tompson and Andre Iguodala...no players
Players not named to teams yet: Tiger Woods, Max Homa, Shane Lowry, Matt Fitzpatrick, Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, Wyndham Clark, Tom Kim, Tommy Fleetwood, Cam Young, Rickie Fowler, Lucas Glover (!?), Sahith Theegala, Justin Rose, Min Woo Lee, Billy Horschel, Kevin Kisner
Of Note: Jon Rahm dropped out recently.
Not sure how they divvy up the players or if there are contracts and what not. There are obvious geographic fits like Keegan in Boston and Morikawa on LA. Maybe FSG had to borrow against the Red Sox payroll to land Rory? (kidding). Maybe they dump Tiger into the New York team as the big market to get this off the ground? or SF with the Warriors/closer to home?
Format
So each night will be 2 teams playing head to head. 3 players from each team compete, 1 sits. The format is:
They built a stadium in Florida where this will be played every week. It will hold 1,600 fans in person. It's supposed to last 2 hours. For the actual golf, it appears it works like this:
Tee shots will be it from a normal tee box into a massive simulator (20 times the size of a normal one). For approach shots, they have fairway, rough, sand, etc. that players will hit out of into the simulator. Once they are within 50-yards of the green, they transition to a 'Green Zone.' It is apparently a 3,800 square foot green complex that has all sorts of technologies so they can change the slope, speed, undulation of the greens so it's not always the same thing.
It's also unclear if they are going to use traditional golf courses or if it'll be computer designed places. Ditto to things like conditions.
I'm not sure if the plan is to continue playing exclusively in Florida or if they will try to take it on the road and play in the cities. Seems like they would really need to do that to get buy-in from fanbases. I don't know how easy it is to build the simulator and greens complex or if it's something that can travel around. Could they use the Garden or is it something where they'd need to build their own facility? I just think it will be difficult for fans to get much of a connection to the teams if they are just hanging out in Florida.
Anywho, thought it was a worthwhile topic as they are launching soon and the media tours, roster announcements and what not are begging to pick up.
Apparently this kicks off January 9th and will be played on Monday's in the winter.
Not all of the rosters have been announced but this is the teams so far:
Boston - Owned by FSG, roster is Rory McIlroy, Tyrrell Hatton, Adam Scott, Keegan Bradley
Atlanta - Owned by Arthur Blank..JT is the only announced player
New York- Owned by Steven Cohen...no players named yet
LA - Owned by Alexis Ohanian. Serena Williams and others...Collin Morikawa is the only player named
San Francisco - Minority owners include Steph Curry, Klay Tompson and Andre Iguodala...no players
Players not named to teams yet: Tiger Woods, Max Homa, Shane Lowry, Matt Fitzpatrick, Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, Wyndham Clark, Tom Kim, Tommy Fleetwood, Cam Young, Rickie Fowler, Lucas Glover (!?), Sahith Theegala, Justin Rose, Min Woo Lee, Billy Horschel, Kevin Kisner
Of Note: Jon Rahm dropped out recently.
Not sure how they divvy up the players or if there are contracts and what not. There are obvious geographic fits like Keegan in Boston and Morikawa on LA. Maybe FSG had to borrow against the Red Sox payroll to land Rory? (kidding). Maybe they dump Tiger into the New York team as the big market to get this off the ground? or SF with the Warriors/closer to home?
Format
So each night will be 2 teams playing head to head. 3 players from each team compete, 1 sits. The format is:
- 15 holes, comprised of 'Triples' and 'Singles'
- 9 holes of 'Triples' which is 3 player alternate shot. So, using Boston as an example, Rory hits the tee shot, Tyyrrell Hatton hits the approach, Adam Scott putts...until they are holed out.
- 6 holes of 'Singles' which is a head to head single hole match. Players rotate. So Rory would play hole #10 against the other teams #1 player, then for #11 Tyyrell Hatton plays the #2 on the opposing team...and so on. So the 3 team players will play 2 holes each of singles.
- Each hole is worth a point. Team with the most points after the 15 holes gets the win. If there is a tie, they will do a closest to the pin to determine the winner.
- Hockey style standings system...2 points for a regulation win, 2 points for an overtime win, 1 point for overtime loss, 0 points for regulation loss.
They built a stadium in Florida where this will be played every week. It will hold 1,600 fans in person. It's supposed to last 2 hours. For the actual golf, it appears it works like this:
Tee shots will be it from a normal tee box into a massive simulator (20 times the size of a normal one). For approach shots, they have fairway, rough, sand, etc. that players will hit out of into the simulator. Once they are within 50-yards of the green, they transition to a 'Green Zone.' It is apparently a 3,800 square foot green complex that has all sorts of technologies so they can change the slope, speed, undulation of the greens so it's not always the same thing.
It's also unclear if they are going to use traditional golf courses or if it'll be computer designed places. Ditto to things like conditions.
I'm not sure if the plan is to continue playing exclusively in Florida or if they will try to take it on the road and play in the cities. Seems like they would really need to do that to get buy-in from fanbases. I don't know how easy it is to build the simulator and greens complex or if it's something that can travel around. Could they use the Garden or is it something where they'd need to build their own facility? I just think it will be difficult for fans to get much of a connection to the teams if they are just hanging out in Florida.
Anywho, thought it was a worthwhile topic as they are launching soon and the media tours, roster announcements and what not are begging to pick up.