Golf has been in a state of division ever since LIV Golf came onto the scene, luring players away from the PGA Tour with massive contracts and shaking the very foundations of traditional competition. The much-hyped PGA Tour–LIV merger? Still in limbo. Fans and players are left wondering what’s next, with no real clarity on when—or if—golf’s biggest divide will finally be mended. But amid all the chaos, a new contender has emerged—not as a rival, but as a potential unifier.

Enter TGL, the tech-savvy league backed by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy. It just wrapped up its debut season, and while we got to see some electrifying simulator golf, TGL might be more than just a flashy new format. Some believe it could be the missing piece in finally bringing LIV and PGA players back together.

TGL is more than just a league

TGL was never supposed to be about mending golf’s biggest rift—it was meant to be an exciting, tech-driven league that brought fans closer to the action. With teams backed by major investors, such as Alexis Ohanian’s Los Angeles Golf Club, the league has already generated plenty of buzz. But as the battle between LIV and the PGA Tour drags on, speculation is growing that TGL might play a larger role than expected.

Even the Golf Channel podcast raised the idea that TGL could become the meeting point for players from both tours. “We can have a conversation about maybe this is the bridge. How Liv Golf, those players come back. It would be a really easy formula to come up with. Yeah, Liv Golf can have two teams. PGA Tour can have two teams on Liv Golf. And TGL is that bridge between the two sides.”

With TGL’s team-based format, it could provide a neutral space where players from both tours compete without pledging full allegiance to either side. This would not only maintain the competitive edge between PGA and LIV but also allow fans to see their favorite golfers together again.

And honestly? We might have already seen the first signs of this happening. Brooks Koepka, one of LIV Golf’s biggest names, made a surprise appearance at the SoFi Center, spotted hanging out with members of Tiger Woods’s Jupiter Links team. Given that Koepka is also an investor in Locker Room, which funds TMRW Sports (TGL’s parent company), his presence raised some serious eyebrows. Was this just a casual visit, or a hint at something bigger? Even Phil Mickelson, who is a staunch advocate of LIV Golf, praised TGL’s format, suggesting it could be an exciting evolution for golf.

But while the idea of TGL as a “golfing olive branch” sounds great, there’s also a logistical challenge.

The challenge of scheduling and expansion

During the same podcast, the hosts pointed out the toll TGL takes on players: “I think Xander Schauffele is gas, I think most players who played the majority of the start of this season will tell you it was really hard, especially when you’re coming from the West Coast. Even on a private flight, it still wasn’t easy to make the trip over.”

To counter this, TGL could expand to five-man teams, with only three playing per event, offering players flexibility while keeping competition fierce. With discussions already in place about a women’s league and potential mixed teams, TGL’s expansion could provide even more avenues for growth.

While the PGA Tour and LIV Golf continue their cold war, TGL has quietly positioned itself as a middle ground where stars from both leagues could coexist without fully committing to a merger. Investors like Steve Cohen have hinted that a reunion between the best players is inevitable. “The goal is to reunite all the players — it’s fragmented right now,” he said. “Getting to play in one tournament, one venue, whatever it is, is exciting.”

Whether TGL is the answer remains to be seen. But as the merger remains stuck in limbo, Tiger Woods’s tech-driven golf experiment might just become the unexpected glue that holds the sport together.