Three down, three to go. TGL, the new tech golf league created by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy announced on Monday that its third of six teams will be based in Atlanta and owned by Arthur Blank, owner of the NFL side Atlanta Falcons and MLS’s Atlanta United.

The first season of what is being billed as a tech-forward, prime-time, team golf league launches in January 2024. It was previously announced that Alexis Ohanian, Serena Williams and Venus Williams will lead Los Angeles Golf Club while Fenway Sports Group will lead the TGL Boston team.

“We are thrilled to partner with TMRW Sports and be a founding owner in TGL,” Blank said in a release. “I see this as an investment to grow the game, deliver an innovative product to avid fans while exposing golf to new, younger audiences, and another way for us to compete for championships for Atlanta. We will put our best foot forward in effort to achieve all three goals and to help TGL achieve success in any way we can.”

Blank is co-founder of The Home Depot, owner of PGA Tour Superstore and his sports and entertainment division also owns Mercedes-Benz Stadium, home to his Falcons and United, as well as other major concerts and sporting events.

“He has been a stalwart supporter of golf at every level and has been engaged throughout much of TMRW Sports’ journey to develop TGL,” said Mike McCarley, CEO of TMRW Sports and TGL. “His expertise in building not only great sports teams, but also strong organisations with his successful business enterprises, is the type of leadership we appreciate and welcome to TGL.”

The league will be staged at an arena on the campus of Palm Beach State College in Florida. Aside from Woods and McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Matt Fitzpatrick, Justin Rose, Adam Scott, Xander Schauffele, Max Homa, Rickie Fowler, and Billy Horschel have all committed to compete.

Atlanta’s team name, brand, staff and players will be unveiled later this year.

The post Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy golf league announces latest team, based in Atlanta appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

After a trade that sent him to the New York Jets, Aaron Rodgers will be seeing a lot more of Josh Allen this season in the AFC East. But forget about being division rivals, these two quarterbacks’ biggest beef with each other remains about golf.

Let’s back up a second to February when Rodgers won the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Well, he won the Am portion along with PGA Tour pro Ben Silverman (Justin Rose won the main competition). Rodgers was ecstatic to earn his biggest sports title since winning the Super Bowl over a decade before, but not everyone was as pleased with what turned out to be a controversial victory.

As you can see from the photo above, Allen wasn’t thrilled, specifically with Rodgers getting 10 strokes in the competition when his handicap hovers around a 3 (and he’s proven to be that good in multiple editions of Capital One’s The Match). In fact, Allen’s partner at Pebble, PGA Tour winner Keith Mitchell, went as far as to call Rodgers’ handicap “crap.” And we can’t say that we disagree.

Anyway, fast forward about six months and Allen was asked about the situation on Barstool’s Pardon My Take. The Bills QB agreed Rodgers had cheated and sandbagged “the world” during the win. He stopped short, however, of a proposed jail sentence for the offence. Have a look and listen:

Aaron Rodgers: CHEATER?!@rhoback pic.twitter.com/XZ9xufogrZ

— Pardon My Take (@PardonMyTake) August 2, 2023

Looks like we just found the perfect battle for the next Capital One’s The Match!

Again, it’s hard to argue with Josh here. Rodgers’ handicap was extremely sketchy, not that he’s the first to draw attention for that (*cough* Larry Fitzgerald *cough*). And again, these guys are going to face off on the football field (at least) two times this season. Get your popcorn ready

The post QB quarrel: Josh Allen says Aaron Rodgers sandbagged ‘the world’ in controversial Pebble Beach Pro-Am win appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Looks like @PatrickMahomes hooked up the o-line with some golf gear for Christmas. pic.twitter.com/xsyLzoc7QD

— Dante' Jones (@Dantej21) December 21, 2022

What. A. Legend. This is fast becoming one of the NFL’s most treasured holiday traditions. We’ve seen the likes of Kyler Murray and Josh Allen do the same in recent years, and now the most electrifying quarterback of his generation is getting in on the merriment. You really do love to see it.

Unfortunately for the Chiefs offensive line, the midwest and plains are getting slammed by a massive winter storm this week and the Chiefs figure to make a deep run into January this season. Sounds like the guys will have to wait until spring to finally break in those shiny new sticks.

The post Patrick Mahomes hooked up the entire Kansas City Chiefs offensive-line with custom clubs for Christmas appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Tom Brady is no stranger to having his every move dissected on the internet. Whether it be a 3rd-and-4 incompletion, or a video of him stumbling around while celebrating another Super Bowl, he understands people are going to break it down frame-by-frame.

So it came as no surprise when a video of Brady making a “hole-in-one” began making the rounds, social media pounced on it. “Fake!” they cried. “This looks edited to me,” they yelled. “Just retire already!!!” they screamed (that last one might be made up, although we’re all thinking it).

Upon first viewing, it does seem like the criticisms have merit, however:

This is why you film every shot on the course…

?: @ari_fararooy + @ShadowLion pic.twitter.com/h9QrbLKOmu

— Tom Brady (@TomBrady) May 25, 2022

The first thing to note is that the reaction seems very genuine, which means A: He did hole this shot out, which wouldn’t be out of the question considering he’s done something similar on live TV before, or B: He and everyone in the video are really good actors, which is also not out of the question given TB12’s blossoming social media presence.

The second thing to note is that Brady does not refer to this as a hole-in-one, as many others did online. During a Zoom call for The Match, Brady also confirmed that this was no ace.

“It’s not a hole-in-one, because it wasn’t really a par 3,” Brady said. “We were in the middle of the fairway on a par 4, and I would have had to play the whole round for it to be a real hole-in-one. It was a once-in-a-lifetime shot, that’s for sure, but it wasn’t a hole-in-one unfortunately. I can’t claim that.”

Honest man, though he did not confirm nor deny if the video is real in anyway at all. Based off the 26-27-second mark of the video, it sure seems deceptively edited, which seems to be the case with many of Brady’s made-for-Instagram clips. Like this one, for example:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Tom Brady (@tombrady)

Or this one, which he posted ahead of the last iteration of The Match he was a part of:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Tom Brady (@tombrady)

What we do know for sure is that Brady has an excellent team of social media people that knows how to rack up the views, although it’s pretty easy to rack up views when you’re Tom Brady. It doesn’t help the “this is a real video” case when he’s hawking merch underneath the video, which just so happened to have over 1.5 million views:

Shop the outfit now! https://t.co/Bx0UnTMRJr pic.twitter.com/FLwfnGyMRQ

— Tom Brady (@TomBrady) May 25, 2022

Cha ching. Not even trying to hide it. You almost have to respect it. Good news for the haters is that next Wednesday, when the lights go on and Brady and Aaron Rodgers take on Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes, there will be no deceptive editing of any sort to hide behind. Knowing Brady, he’ll show up and show out, and everyone on the internet will have their eye on his every move, as always.

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The post WATCH: No way! Tom Brady did not make a hole-in-one in that viral video (which may or may not be real) appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Sure, it’s still a big step, but Danny Woodhead impressed a lot of people by making it through a US Open local qualifier on Wednesday. The former Jet/Patriot/Charger/Raven shot 71 at Omaha Country Club. And he did it in style by draining a clutch curling birdie putt on the penultimate hole.

Fortunately, like during his football playing days, the cameras were rolling:

Woodhead finished tied for third place to grab one of five available spots from the field of 84. Corbin Mills took medalist honors with a 67.

After, the 37-year-old Woodland tried to play his accomplishment down by tweeting “Some people get lucky,” and making fun of his birdie celebration:

But there’s no downplaying the fact that Woodhead pulled off something that many celebrity golfers including Tony Romo haven’t been able to. Of course, the competition will get tougher at final qualifying later this month just like it does the deeper you get into the NFL playoffs. If anyone understands that, though, it’s a guy who has played in the Super Bowl.

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The post In the game: NFL running back Danny Woodhead advances at US Open qualifier appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

So far, though, that has not been the case, as the fine folks of Wisconsin have welcomed the European Team with open arms. Just ask Ian Poulter, arguably the most-hated European player of the last 15 years, who says the American fans have been “wishing him well.”

In an absolutely brilliant move, Team Europe got the U.S. crowd on its side on Wednesday, arriving at the first tee in style, and by style we mean in cheeseheads, famously worn by Green Bay Packers fans:

Say cheese @packers ? #TeamEurope #RyderCup pic.twitter.com/HFMSimGZAn

— Ryder Cup Europe (@RyderCupEurope) September 22, 2021

Cheeseheads with green & yellow on the first tee in Wisconsin.#TeamEurope knows what they’re doing. pic.twitter.com/wEbWByzRTI

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) September 22, 2021

.@JonRahmpga is a vibe ?#TeamEurope #RyderCup pic.twitter.com/kAZwnzjpbm

— Ryder Cup Europe (@RyderCupEurope) September 22, 2021

Getting the locals onside @packers ?#TeamEurope #RyderCup pic.twitter.com/JpKHbSfYCH

— Ryder Cup Europe (@RyderCupEurope) September 22, 2021

Nice touch. An even nicer touch, as you may have noticed, is that the uniforms are actually Packers-inspired, too. Two days after a huge win over the Detroit Lions, you can’t play to a crowd much better than this:

Go Pack Go ?

Our Loro Piana uniform today is inspired by the @packers!#TeamEurope #RyderCup pic.twitter.com/z64tbXMwKE

— Ryder Cup Europe (@RyderCupEurope) September 22, 2021

The funny thing is, this obviously wasn’t just a last-minute decision. As European captain Padraig Harrington explained, this has now been years in the making, long before the Packers smacked around the lowly Lions Monday night.

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Ryder Cup Rewatchables: Dustin Johnson’s First Tee Jitters In 2010

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“It’s 18 months ago at least,” Harrington said. “Maybe two years ago at this stage, when you’re going through the clothing with Loro Piana, you’re looking at the different colours. As I said, the first — the obvious one, ‘Oh, do you want to wear some green for Ireland?’ I’m thinking, Well, look, this is a European team. Let’s do something different.

“And then I said, Well, why not recognise Wisconsin where we’re going to play, and it fit in very nicely then to go with the Green Bay Packers.”

Harrington also said the Packers were a big help, and that they even supplied the cheeseheads for the Euros. They gained a new fan for life with that move.

“I’m a Patriots fan,” said Harrington. “So now I’m a Green Bay Packers fan. I changed allegiance somewhat.”

It’s official – Padraig is welcome back to Wisconsin anytime he wants. But maybe stay away from Boston for a little while.

The post The European Team pulled an absolutely brilliant move to get the U.S. fans on their side appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Stephen Hennessey
The Match”—the made-for-TV events with Phil Mickelson taking part as one of the headliners each time—will return for a fourth time, Turner Sports announced on Wednesday, with a July 6 match slated for The Reserve at Moonlight Basin in Big Sky, Mont., on TNT.

Mickelson—the 2021 PGA champion and a two-time winner in this format—will pair with Tom Brady, who Phil was teamed with in the second version of The Match at Medalist. They’ll face Bryson DeChambeau and Aaron Rodgers, who will each make their debut in “Capital One’s The Match” series. And once again, Turner says each competitor will be mic’d up throughout the competition, which will be a modified alternate-shot format, Turner says.

DeChambeau is sure to be an engaging addition to the matches—with his very talkative personality and never-ending motor. And Rodgers—the quarterback and the NFL MVP last season—is listed as a 4.6 Handicap Index and has competed before at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the American Century Championship in Lake Tahoe, Nev.

The Reserve at Moonlight Basin, ranked No. 2 on Golf Digest’s most recent Best in State rankings in Montana, can be tipped out at 8,000 yards and features a 777-yard 17th hole. The course sits at 7,000 feet above elevation, built on an old ski mountain—so Mickelson and Co. will have the opportunity to hit some bombs.

Following his historic victory at Kiawah Island last week—becoming the oldest major champion ever—the intrigue around Mickelson is bound to be at its highest. He is expected to meet with the media on Wednesday at Colonial Country Club ahead of him playing this week’s Charles Schwab Challenge.

Once again, this edition of “Capital One’s The Match” will have a charity component, including donations to Feeding America among other beneficiaries. Turner Sports said its broadcasting team will be announced at a later date, and on Wednesday Justin Thomas responded with a thumbs-up down emoji on Instagram when someone asked him if he’d be announcing. JT only worked the second match at The Medalist in Hobe Sound, Fla.

The smack talk already started flying—with Brady delivering a dagger at Rodgers’ expense on social media.

Two old guys against the young bucks @PhilMickelson. @b_dechambeau better get used to laying up because we know @AaronRodgers12 isn’t going for it ? https://t.co/f1DQsFn41U

— Tom Brady (@TomBrady) May 26, 2021

The post ‘The Match’ is back—Phil Mickelson and Tom Brady to team up against Bryson DeChambeau and Aaron Rodgers appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Joel Beall
Major League Baseball was scrambling to save its 2020 season Monday, just three days after it had belatedly begun. More than a dozen members of the Miami Marlins roster and front office tested positive for COVID-19, forcing league officials to cancel Monday and Tuesday games between the Marlins and Baltimore Orioles. The New York Yankees-Philadelphia Phillies game was also postponed Monday as the Marlins had just played in Philadelphia, sparking fear the Phillies were exposed to the outbreak.

Given baseball’s rushed approach to conducting its season, this development is not necessarily a surprise. Not helping matters has been the United States’ inability to curb the virus’ spread, to say nothing of the pandemic’s continual politicisation. But baseball’s issues arise during a week where the National Basketball Association resumes its regular season and the National Football League welcomes players to training camp, begging the question if sports are truly ready to come back.

It is a question that has multiple answers, none that are entirely right or wrong. However, for those seeking hope, the PGA Tour can serve as a guide.

The tour wrapped up its seventh PGA Tour event in its return to golf on Sunday at the 3M Open outside Minneapolis, with two tournaments on its slate this week. What it has been attempting this summer—traveling around the country with a caravan of 350-plus players, caddies and other personnel—is nothing short of a high-wire act. Each step has not been graceful, and in Weeks 2 and 3 specifically, the rope began to wobble. There’s also a long way to go before the “Mission: Accomplished” banner can be unraveled. Yet as the tour finishes up its second month (along with holding seven Korn Ferry Tour events), what it has pulled off has been a success.

But can its success be replicated? Golf is a non-contact sport, played individually, held outside without real need for a locker room. Its inherent nature is what allowed the game to return months before baseball, basketball, hockey and football. The dynamics don’t lend themselves to an apples-to-apples comparison.

“I think we’re so fortunate in our sport, it’s different. We don’t have the contact that basketball has, that football has. Baseball, we’re not touching the same thing as in a baseball,” Justin Thomas said Tuesday at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational in Memphis. “I have no physical touch with anybody in my group. I can stay away from them. And we’re outside. It’s so different compared to other sports.”

Mitchell Leff
The Miami Marlins celebrate winning their opening day game, but did so at the expense of strict adherence to social distancing best practices.

Still, there are lessons other leagues can learn from the tour’s foray into the unknown. Which starts with universal buy-in from players.

In a sense, that seems elementary, especially with PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan threatening punishment to those who do not heed the tour’s COVID-19 guidelines. In that same breath, players are contractors, beholden to no one but themselves. Most are 35 and younger and all are professional athletes; as one tournament director told us as the tour was making plans for its return, there’s a certain amount of ego needed to reach this level, a conviction that can occasionally render as cockiness. In short, tour pros are a group that doesn’t like to be told what to do.

Luckily, the buy-in has been almost universal. Players and caddies have exercised caution to the tour’s expansive restrictions, holding themselves and others accountable. Players have self-reported possible symptoms to protect their fellow players and all others at an event. They acknowledge that if this endeavor falls apart, it’s on them.

“I’ve tried to be really careful, but I could probably be more careful,” said Webb Simpson, RBC Heritage winner, during that week at Harbour Town. “I hadn’t really gone out to dinner. I’ve gotten takeout every night. But in terms of even wearing the mask, any time I’m out of my comfort zone away from the golf course, I think it’s smart. And really, the six-foot rule I’ve been good about, but I probably could be better.”

There are still the occasional breaches of social distance, but on the whole players and caddies are doing their part. They are staying in their hotel rooms and rented houses, having food delivered rather than dining out, wearing masks where required. Even the lone “outbreak” during the Travelers Championship, where multiple players due to COVID concerns, at a human level, was understandable, as the caddies in question might have caught virus while attending a funeral.

Streeter Lecka
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan looks on during a practice round prior to last month’s RBC Heritage. Buy-in from players on the tour’s COVID protocols helped the tour resume play so quickly.

Which flows into the second part of this equation: the tour’s environment. Despite entering a handful of coronavirus hot spots, the tour has maintained a safe working space for its membership. No, the process is far from fool-proof. In fact, the bubbles the NBA and NHL have enacted have proven safer environments in the early going: The NHL announced that it performed 4,256 tests on more than 800 players and had zero positives, while the NBA had zero positive tests after one week in its stay at Disney World. The tour doesn’t have a true “bubble,” per se, not with weekly travel and players and caddies arranging personal travel and accommodations.

Nevertheless, that only seven PGA Tour pros in seven weeks have tested positive is not providence. A lot of this stems from stringent policing of who is and is not allowed on site and re-engineering tournament properties to meet COVID-19 protocols. When leaks emerge, the tour does its best to plug them up. Every aspect of tour life is being recalibrated on a weekly, and sometimes daily, basis.

Perhaps the biggest lesson, and possible salvation for baseball as it tries to dig itself out of its hole, is malleability.

The tour’s health and safety protocols were comprehensive when announced in May. Of course, every league has laid out a detailed approach in COVID-19 prevention (MLB has orders on how to properly flush an airline toilet, for example). What has spurred efficiency on the PGA Tour front, though, has been the evolution and continual tinkering of those rules. And they have, particularly when the protocols showed vulnerability.

“You know, [we’re all trying to] learn to live in an environment of COVID-19,” PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said during last month’s Travelers Championship. “I’m concerned but I’m also confident in the program and protocols we’ve put in place, and our ability to be able to sustain the PGA Tour and give our players opportunities on both of these tours over the course of the year, so long as we continue to be as diligent as we intend to be.”

It wasn’t that Nick Watney tested positive (the tour’s first COVID-19 positive player) in the second tournament that was a sore point for critics; it was that he was allowed on property while awaiting the results, potentially exposing other players. Within a week, the tour adjusted its protocols on player/caddie clearance, declaring no one would be allowed at a tournament site without a passed in-market test.

Additional testing was added for those on the tour’s chartered planes. Fitness trailers were brought to courses to discourage visiting gyms out of the tour’s jurisdiction. They have adjusted tee pairings to prevent possible transmission from players who have tested positive but are no longer showing symptoms. (On Tuesday, the tour adjusted again to do away with its “COVID-19 pairings.”) In short, as our collective knowledge of the virus grows, so does the tour’s abilities to combat it.

Obviously, the tour’s success is predicated off of more than buy-in from players, its work environment and its adaptability. But they lay a foundation for the rest of the operation to function. Without those pillars intact, as evidenced in baseball this week, the proverbial house falls apart.

The post What Major League Baseball, the NBA, NFL and others can learn from the PGA Tour’s return amid the pandemic appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Joel Beall
The sequel is now set.

Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson announced they were reviving their made-for-TV exhibition for charity last month, adding NFL greats Tom Brady and Peyton Manning to the event, but the initial release was light on details, as tournament organisers remained engaged in negotiations. On Thursday, fans were given a full offering of what to expect from The Match: Champions for Charity.

The competition will be held on Sunday, May 24, starting at 3 p.m. ET. Turner Sports is running the event and will simulcast it on TNT, TBS, truTV and HLN. Medalist Golf Club in Hobe Sound, Fla. will serve as the venue, a course dozens of PGA Tour players call home, including Woods.

Woods and Manning are teaming up against Mickelson and Brady, playing best ball on the front and a modified alternate-shot format on the back. As part of the competitive play, there will also be a set of on-course challenges to raise additional charitable funds.

According to a statement, WarnerMedia and the golfers will collectively make a charitable donation of $10 million to benefit COVID-19 relief. As part of the fundraising efforts, the competition will also include a partnership with the ALL IN Challenge, along with additional on-course competitive challenges for charity.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unimaginable tragedy and heartbreak,” said Jeff Zucker, chairman of WarnerMedia News and Sports. “We’re hopeful this event and platform will help raise meaningful funding for COVID-19 relief, while also providing a source of brief distraction and entertainment for all sports fans.”

Mickelson defeated Woods in the previous match in 2018, knocking off the 15-time major winner in a four-hole playoff.

The post Tiger Woods-Phil Mickelson match sets date, venue and format appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Joel Beall
Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson are reviving “The Match.”

A sequel to the 2018 Thanksgiving pay-per-view event, hinted at by Mickelson on Twitter in March, was officially announced on Wednesday by Turner Sports. Woods and Mickelson will be joined by NFL greats Tom Brady and Peyton Manning for the exhibition. The event is titled “The Match: Champions for Charity,” with all donations and fundraising to benefit COVID-19 relief.

According to a Turner Sports press release, the competition will air live on TNT. It is planned for late May, with details on the specific date, venue and charitable causes to be announced in the coming weeks. One of the reported possible venues is Medalist Golf Club in Hobe Sound, Fla., a course dozens of PGA Tour players call home, including Woods.

To play in the event, both Woods and Mickelson will need to obtain a release form from the PGA Tour, as it’s a non-sanctioned event. In its statement, Turner said tournament organisers are currently working with state and local government and public health officials on competition and production logistics to ensure the event follows safety and health protocols.

The previous iteration of the Match at Shadow Creek was met with mixed reviews. Fans were locked out of their pay-per-view purchases, and others got to watch it for free. Neither Woods and Mickelson played their best golf, and the ending—a 93-yard chip-off—was viewed as anti-climatic.

However, it offered its share of drama, highlighted by Woods holing out for birdie on the 17th hole, and despite the coverage snafus, managed to capture a massive audience.

The post Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson are officially reviving ‘The Match’ appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.