Co-promoters Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy head two of the six teams that will contest the SoFi Cup at a purpose-built arena in Florida between January 7 and March 18. 2025 with the matches going out live on ESPN.
Woods played all four majors in 2024 for the first time since his 2021 car accident but has not competed since missing the cut at the Open Championship in July.
Fifteen-time major winner Tiger Woods will make his debut for Jupiter Links Golf Club in the technology-dominated TGL series against Atlanta Drive Golf Club at the Bay Golf Club in Palm Beach Gardens on January 14, 2025 after the inaugural encounter between New York GC and the host club on January 7.
Winner of two majors this year, Xander Schauffele will lead the New York side in the battle for the SoFi Cup which is being promoted by Woods and Rory McIlroy via TMRW Sports, their joint venture into 15-match stadium-style golf series that will see six teams in action.
Woods and McIlroy are thereafter expected to face off for Jupiter Links GC and Boston Common Golf respectively on January 27 following the NYGC versus Atlanta Drive GC clash on January 21 with ESPN covering the matches live.
The SoFi Cup presented by TGL was to launch last January but was postponed by two years after the inflatable dome at the tech-heavy purpose-built venue collapsed during a storm-triggered power outage in November 2022.
The six teams and players (US unless stated otherwise) are:
- Atlanta Drive Golf Club: Justin Thomas, Patrick Cantlay, Billy Horschel and Lucas Glover
- Boston Common Golf: Rory McIlroy, Hideki Matsuyama (Japan), Keegan Bradley and Adam Scott (Australia)
- Jupiter Links Golf Club: Tiger Woods, Max Homa, Joohyung ‘Tom’ Kim (South Korea) and Kevin Kisner
- Los Angeles Golf Club: Collin Morikawa, Sahith Theegala, Justin Rose and Tommy Fleetwood (both England)
- New York Golf Club: Xander Schauffele, Matt Fitzpatrick (England), Rickie Fowler and Cameron Young
- The Bay Golf Club: Ludvig Aberg (Sweden), Wyndham Clark, Min Woo Lee (Australia) and Shane Lowry (Ireland)
Each team will play the others over five matches in a round-robin league with the top four advancing to the playoffs between January 7 and March 4, 2025. Single-match elimination semi-finals will be played on March 17 and March 18, before a best-of-three Finals Series for the SoFi Cup on March 24 and March 25.
The entire season will be played at the SoFi Centre in Palm Beach Gardens with the 1,500-strong audience seated around the playing area which involves giant screens for the longer shots from tee-off, to a motor-driven, adjustable bunker and green area for the finish.
Each match will in essence be a “virtual start to stadium finish” concept,Golfers will hit tee and approach shots into a 64-by-53-foot simulator screen before moving to the Green Zone; a surface that can be rotated and sloped on each hole thanks to a turntable with motors under its surface.
Woods played all four majors in 2024 for the first time since is 2021 car accident but has not competed since missing the cut at the Open Championship in July. In July, Tiger underwent back surgery following which he said he was hopeful of getting back “ to normal life activities, including golf”.
Players will tee off from real grass tee boxes and encounter a series of custom-designed, virtual holes that will be projected on the screen. Once teams are inside approximately 50 yards they will transition to live action and finish each hole on the machine-driven short game complex that transforms between holes.
