TGL indoor golf league to add Detroit team for 2027

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Two months after the inaugural TGL season, the indoor golf league has expanded.

Motor City Golf Club representing Detroit will be the seventh team in TGL, the league founded by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy as part of their TMRW Sports entertainment company.

Motor City will not start playing until 2027.

It will join teams that represent Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Boston, Atlanta and Jupiter, Florida. Atlanta, with Billy Horschel and Justin Thomas, won the inaugural title.

The Motor City ownership group is led by Middle West Partners. The principals are Michael Hamp, Peter Hamp and Kevin Kelleher, all with Detroit roots. The Hamp family has been longtime co-owners of the Detroit Lions.

“This is a great moment for Detroit sports and a proud moment for me personally,” Michael Hamp said. “My grandfather, William Clay Ford Sr., was an avid golfer, and I believe bringing a new format of the game he loved would make him really proud.”

The ownership group includes Denver Broncos owner Rob Walton and Jordan Rose, president of Arizona-based Rose Law Group.

Each team features four players (Woods is with Jupiter, McIlroy with Boston).

A group representing Dallas was working on a bid last month. With Detroit not starting until 2027, it was unlikely for TGL to start next year with more than its current six teams.

Hogan award

The amazing year of Luke Clanton hit another high note when the Florida State junior was selected for the Ben Hogan Award as the top college player based on performances in college, amateur and professional events.

Clanton is the No. 1 player in the amateur ranking and No. 1 in the PGA Tour University, already securing a PGA Tour card after the NCAAs end next week.

Clanton already has two runner-up finishes on the PGA Tour, at the John Deere Classic and the RSM Classic, and he has two other top 10s playing on sponsor exemptions. Not since Jack Nicklaus in 1961 has an amateur had at least three top 10s on the PGA Tour in the same season.

He has four wins this year at Florida State, most recently at the NCAA regional. The NCAA Championship starts later this week at La Costa Resort north of San Diego.

Clanton is the second Florida State player to win the award, joining John Pak in 2021.

LIV logo

Most of the LIV Golf League players at the PGA Championship had a logo on their sleeve that suggests a new sponsorship for the Saudi-funded league. Sports Business Journal and Athlon Sports are reporting that Salesforce, a Dow 30 company, is signing an umbrella partnership.

LIV Golf does not resume until June 6 in Virginia.

The reports say Salesforce, which specializes in customer relationship management technology, would be the largest deal for LIV since it began in 2022.

Asked about the logo at the PGA Championship, Bryson DeChambeau told Athlon, “It’s the first of many potential sponsors that are looking at LIV, LIV’s not going anywhere for a long time.

“And I think that Salesforce sees the potential partnership with LIV and what we can do globally, around the world.”

Major streaks

Sergio Garcia took bogey on his final hole of U.S. Open qualifying on Monday that cost the Spaniard a spot in what turned out to be a 7-for-1 playoff for the last of seven spots at Bent Tree in Dallas.

That ends a streak of 25 consecutive U.S. Open appearances for Garcia that began in 2000 at Pebble Beach. His streak nearly ended last year, but he got into the field at Pinehurst No. 2 as an alternate.

He had played in 82 consecutive majors — dating to Carnoustie in 1999 — until he tested positive for the coronavirus and missed the 2020 Masters. He was eligible for 94 straight majors until joining LIV, dropping in the world ranking and missing the 2023 PGA Championship at Oak Hill.

Adam Scott has played 93 straight majors dating to the 2001 British Open at Royal Lytham & St. Annes, and he is guaranteed to be in the next three majors.

Still safe is the streak set by Jack Nicklaus. He played in 146 consecutive majors, and he was eligible for 154 in a row.

Global hot streaks

A couple of players on different continents are piling up victories.

One of them is Mimi Rhodes of England, who helped Wake Forest to the NCAA title in 2023 and played on the winning Curtis Cup team for Great Britain & Ireland last year. She turned pro after the Curtis Cup, earned a Ladies European Tour card and now has won three of her last four starts on the LET.

She has moved up nearly 1,000 spots to No. 88 in the women’s world ranking.

And then there’s Luis Carrera of Mexico, who was his country’s No. 1 junior before going to Sam Houston State and then finishing at Central Florida. He is listed as a LIV Golf alternate, though he has yet to play.

Carrera went down to the Sunshine Tour in South Africa and has won the last two tournaments.

Coming to America

The U.S. Open again held a qualifying site in Japan. Now the Japan Golf Tour is coming to America.

The Japan Golf Tour will hold first and second stages for its 2025 qualifying school in the United States for the first time.

The tour anticipates about 100 players going to first stage on June 29 at Oak Valley in Beaumont, California, 72 holes with no cut and roughly 35 players advancing. The second stage, also at Oak Valley, is July 7.

Between 15 and 20 players advance out of the second stage. The third stage is Dec. 2-5 at three sites in Japan, with the final stage at Chiba Isumi the following week.

“This is part of our initiatives to create new playing opportunities and easier access for golfers in the Americas to take the first steps to qualify and compete on the Japan Golf Tour in 2026,” said Yutaka Morohoshi, the tour’s chairman. “The journey for aspiring golfers can now begin in California next month.”

Divots

Bryson DeChambeau is now on a list with Dustin Johnson, Jack Nicklaus and Sam Snead for being a runner-up in the PGA Championship in consecutive starts. ... Hideki Matsuyama missed the cut at the PGA Championship to end his streak at 19 consecutive cuts in the majors. The current active streak now belongs to Xander Schauffele at 13 straight. Scottie Scheffler is next at 12 in a row. ... ESPN said its live telecast of the second round at the PGA Championship averaged 1.3 million viewers, with a peak of 1.8 million in the final 15 minutes when Scheffler was capping off his five-hole stretch at 5 under. That was down from an average of 1.6 million viewers for the second round last year, when coverage included Tiger Woods’ entire round. It also was the day Scheffler was arrested. ... Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley tied for eighth in the PGA Championship and made $454,781, enough to make him the 21st player to surpass $50 million in career earnings.

Stat of the week

Dating to 2017, every winner of the PGA Championship is a multiple major champion — Justin Thomas, Brooks Koepka, Collin Morikawa, Phil Mickelson, Xander Schauffele and Scottie Scheffler.

Final word

“I’ve got to learn how to be a little more precise with the wind, not let the wind affect the ball as much. It’s a tough task to do because I hit it so high and the ball just kind of moves in the air. I’ve got to figure that out.” — Bryson DeChambeau.

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