I’m headed to Florida on Tuesday with great curiosity to witness what Rory McIlroy calls “golf reimagined,’’ and Tiger Woods describes as “bringing a new demographic to the game of golf.’’
Rickie Fowler, who’s a multimillionaire with pretty much everything he needs in life except a major championship, is a part of it and he told me he expects to be “nervous, but the kind of anxious nervous, the good kind.’’
What’s all the fuss about?
The Tomorrow Golf League (TGL), which begins Tuesday night inside the state-of-the-art, 250,000-square-foot SoFi Center at Palm Beach State College in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
It’s simulator golf on steroids and is being played by some of the biggest names in professional golf that make up the six four-player teams.
“If you’re someone that likes golf at all, it’s a golfer’s little playground in there,’’ Fowler said.
Tuesday’s inaugural match features the New York Golf Club, comprised of Fowler, two-time 2024 major champion Xander Schauffele, former U.S. Open champion Matthew Fitzpatrick and Westchester native Cameron Young.
The New York team is owned by Mets owner Steve Cohen and has other celebrity investors including Eli Manning, Derek Jeter and Jimmy Fallon.
Cohen’s New York team takes on the Bay Golf Club, which is comprised of former U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark, Min Woo Lee, Ludvig Aberg and former British Open champion Shane Lowry.
The match begins at 9 p.m. and will be televised by ESPN.
“Since it is so different and it’s the first time, we’re all going to be nervous,’’ Fowler told The Post in a recent interview about the new venture. “I’m not saying this will be the nerves of a Ryder Cup by any means, but I feel like when you’re out of your element and you’re doing something new it’s just a new type of nervous or anxiousness.
“I feel like we’re all learning as we go at the same time, too, because it’s something that’s never been done,’’ Fowler went on. “It’s something brand new. It’s not simulator golf because of how big it is, but it’s also not real golf at the same time.’’
Will it work?
Will fans be interested?
Certainly, there figures to be a massive initial curiosity factor. The challenge will be retaining people’s interest.
The league hopes to do that with the players mic’d up with hopes there’ll be some good trash talk and chatter among the players. There, too, is a shot clock to keep the proceedings moving — unlike the glacial way the game is at the moment with slow play an epidemic.
“This could be a new way to get people more interested because of how easy it will be to follow and how quickly things will happen,’’ Fowler said. “It’s not like there’s going to be a bunch of dead time between shots. It’s not like we’re trying to necessarily capture the normal golf fan. They’re fans of golf and the history and the tradition and everything this is, and this is definitely very far away from tradition.
“At the end of the day, we need to put on a good show,’’ Fowler continued. “It needs to be good entertainment. Good golf is a bonus. If we play good golf and everyone’s mute and doesn’t interact and don’t say anything it’s not going to work.’’
McIlroy said TGL has tried to “take a lot of things from other sports, like a shot clock, a timeout, which you don’t see in regular golf,’’ adding, “We’re trying to appeal to that bigger sports audience out there.”
Fowler has been doing that since he came onto the PGA Tour scene, which makes TGL the perfect fit for his brand.
“I’ve always been open to trying new things, experimenting in golf,’’ Fowler said. “Golf is in a great spot right now, but you can’t continue to just stay the same and expect the game to grow. It’s only going to continue at the same rate.
“I’m not saying this is just going to all of a sudden get a bunch of people interested in golf, but if we can continue to push the boundaries with golf, maybe this opens some people’s eyes to what is possible with golf.’’
Fowler said he hasn’t yet had a chance to play golf with Steve Cohen, but looks forward to it at some point.
Will this work? Is there a fan appetite for it?
“It is obviously a bit of an experiment, because there’s nothing really that’s been done in this space before,’’ Fowler said. “You know that Steve hasn’t gotten to where he’s at with all his success without being somewhat smart. I think this has a real potential upside.’’
