debut – Golfing Agency

Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy sign Justin Thomas, Jon Rahm to TGL for 2024 debut of tech-based golf league

detlef32 — Tue, 29 Nov 2022 00:48:53 +0000

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In unison with the PGA Tour, Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy’s TGL has landed its first two signings. World No. 5 Jon Rahm and world No. 8 Justin Thomas were announced as future participants in the golf league set to begin in January, 2024. Between the four of them, they possess 22 major championship titles and more than 120 victories on the PGA Tour.

“I’m excited to join Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas in TGL,” said Rahm on Twitter. “As soon as I learned about the league, I was in! It will be great being a part of something that combines my interest in tech with the opportunity to introduce golf to a broader global audience.”

While new leagues are commonplace this day and age, this one is inherently different from the standard golf seen on a weekly basis. TGL’s mission is to fuse advanced technology and live action in a custom-built arenas. Competitors and teams will play matches against each other with full-swing shots tracked by simulators and short-game shots taking place in the arena right in front of the fans. The league is set to launch with six teams of three PGA Tour players, meaning there are now only 14 spots remaining. As with anything attached to Woods, one can assume these openings will be filled quickly.

Boasting a 15-match regular season followed by playoffs and a championship, matches are expected to take place weekly on Monday nights. With little down time or walking in between shots, the relative fast-paced nature of these matches will be a nice change.

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Rory McIlroy reclaims world No. 1 ranking for ninth time, a decade after his debut in the top spot

detlef32 — Mon, 24 Oct 2022 06:05:00 +0000

There’s a new No. 1 golfer in the world who doubles as an old No. 1 golfer in the world. With his victory at the 2022 CJ Cup on Sunday afternoon, Rory McIlroy returned to the top spot in the Official World Golf Rankings for the first time since July 2020 and ninth time in his career.

In taking down Kurt Kitayama and K.H. Lee, it was McIlroy who overtook Scottie Scheffler, ending the 2022 Masters champion’s 30-week run at No. 1.

Even more remarkable than McIlroy regaining the No. 1 ranking is that he has sustained a level of greatness over the last decade. This marks McIlroy’s ninth different stint at No. 1 just over 10 years after his debut in March 2012 shortly after he became a professional.

A lot has happened over the last decade, but McIlroy has not fallen out of the top 15 in the world in that time. He’s one of just three golfers who have a 10-year gap between their first appearance as world No. 1 and their most recent. The other two are Tiger Woods (17 years) and Greg Norman (11.5). Nobody else more than a 3.5-year gap between appearances.

“I guess that’s where I say like the cool thing about it is you get to No. 1, and it feels great in the moment,” said McIlroy earlier this week. “The bad thing is you almost [have] to … maybe work harder to stay there. I think, when you’re striving toward something, not that it’s easier to get there, but like once you get there, it’s great. But I think the hard work is actually staying there.

“I think if I get back to No. 1 this week, it’s like my ninth time getting back. It sort of illustrates you can have your runs and you can stay there, but I think the cool part is the journey and the journey getting back there. It’s sort of like a heavyweight boxer losing a world title and it’s a journey to get that title back. I feel like that’s the cool part of it and that’s the journey that I’ve sort of been through over the past 12 months.”

McIlroy has indeed been playing some of the best golf of his career over the last year. In his last 15 starts worldwide, he has 12 top 10s, 10 top fives, three wins and just one missed cut. Since the start of 2022, he’s been far and away the best statistical player in the world at over 2.7 strokes gained per round. The next closest coming into this week at the CJ Cup was Scheffler (2.5).

In a year in which McIlroy disappointingly did not win a major championship — though he finished in the top 10 in all four — it’s a bit of a reprieve that he essentially accomplished everything else: a FedEx Cup victory, three wins on the PGA Tour, close to $30 million in on-course earnings (including FedEx Cup bonus money) and a return trip to the top of the OWGR table. It’s been a remarkable showing.

Here’s a look at all nine times McIlroy has been the No. 1 player in the world.

March 2012	March 2012	2	2
April 2012	April 2012	2	4
May 2012	May 2012	3	7
August 2012	March 2013	32	39
August 2014	August 2015	54	93
August 2015	September 2015	1	94
September 2015	September 2015	1	95
February 2020	July 2020	11	106
October 2022	—	1	107

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