Tony Finau made history in the opening season of TGL by becoming the first player to sign a one match deal, as he joined Los Angeles GC for their clash with New York.
TGL has arguably been a real success in its first season. While it was never going to be every golf fan’s cup of tea, it has surely shown enough positive signs to suggest that there will be plenty of interest in a second season.
Some players have thrived in the format. And it says everything that having neither Rory McIlroy or Tiger Woods make the playoffs has not proved to be a disaster for the league.
It is also telling that a couple of PGA Tour players who were not initially named on any of the sides have looked to get involved. Along with Tony Finau, Nick Dunlap has also made a brief appearance.
Tony Finau explains why he is unlikely to sign up for TGL permanently
Finau helped Los Angeles battle back from 4-0 down to beat New York 5-4. With that, some will be wondering whether he will be looking to feature more regularly in the future.
However, when asked on Golf Channel about a permanent place in the league, Finau admitted that any decision is not as simple for him as whether he would like to play regularly in TGL.
“Yeah, I really enjoyed that. It exceeded all my expectations going in, I had watched some of it leading up to it. I just anticipated something a lot different than what it actually was. The reality was way better than watching it from the outside. Being on the inside, being able to have a close match, win the match, the atmosphere at SoFi Center, all of it, it exceeded all my expectations,” he said.
“I’d be up for giving it another shot. But unfortunately for me, I live on the west coast. The hardest part is the logistics of it. It’s out in West Palm, which is not exactly close to where I live. If they moved it out west, I think it would be something I consider more. As for now, I just really enjoyed my cameo experience playing TGL.”
The reason Jordan Spieth gave for not being involved with TGL
Finau is far from the only PGA Tour star who has admitted that playing TGL regularly would simply not work for him as things stand.
Speaking on The Smylie Show earlier this year, Jordan Spieth noted that it is not the right time for him to get involved with the league.
“I talked with those guys from the very beginning. Just where I’m at in life, with my two young kids, I live in Dallas, just isn’t a great time right now, given what it is and our schedule and these guys obviously shoot back, but most of those guys either live there or live close to there or don’t have multiple kids under four years old. So a little different place in life right now,” he said.
There definitely should be scope for TGL to move around in the future. The existing teams could have home arenas, while there may be new teams which are also created.
That may become more problematic given the PGA Tour schedule. And if that is the case, then perhaps there could be a window in the year when the PGA Tour can avoid scheduling any 72-hole tournaments for a couple of weeks and instead film a season of TGL matches which could then be shown over a number of weeks.
Ultimately, TGL is going to show its true potential when it has the perfect blend of star-power and players who thrive in the format. So the league needs to look to do all it can to make that happen in the years to come.
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