The new TGL season starts this week with some changes, but with Tiger Woods sidelined

Billy Horschel remembers a certain buzz about the tech-infused indoor TMRW Golf League when it started last year, and there was a lot of curiosity about where it would fit into the golf landscape.

Curiosity has given way to a degree of optimism and a bit of growth when the second season of TGL begins on Sunday.

The graphics have been upgraded. Audience members at the SoFi Center in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, will have earplugs to make it easier to listen to chatter. Golf course architects – including Jack Nicklaus, Gil Hanse and Beau Welling – design holes. And each team gets a signature hole that reflects their city.

It starts with a rematch of last year’s TGL finals, when Atlanta Drive defeated New York in a pair of one-point games that provided some drama. Horschel is part of Atlanta Drive and does not have Justin Thomas, who is recovering from a back injury. And yes, he is excited.

“I’ve been on the PGA Tour for 16 years, and I think anyone who’s been on the Tour for a while can find the monotonous grind of it a little tedious, not that the fire to compete has waned,” Horschel said.

“So if you can do something that rekindles that fire and have that kind of childish energy… and that’s what I had, that childish energy in this whole TGL season, because it was something different and something that we were all experiencing for the first time.”

The six teams remain largely intact, although Jupiter Links will not immediately feature Tiger Woods as he recovers from back surgery. He has said he would miss the first part of the season. Detroit will have a franchise starting in 2027, and there is movement for another team, perhaps involving Scottie Scheffler.

The matches are usually on Monday and Tuesday evenings, but start on Sunday (December 28) and the next match involving Rory McIlroy’s Boston Common is Friday, January 2.

Planning can become difficult. After the Jan. 2 game, Boston won’t play again until Jan. 26, the Monday after McIlroy ends his two weeks in Dubai as part of the European tour schedule.

Horschel said it may become even easier — and perhaps more attractive to players who want to be part of TGL — when the PGA Tour completes its schedule overhaul.

“There’s a lot of changes coming in ’27 that could make scheduling a little bit easier and maybe people who declined will want to participate,” Horschel said.