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Nelly Korda of the United States looks on while playing the sixth hole during the final round of the Grant Thornton Invitational 2025 at Tiburon Golf Club on December 14.
World No. 2 Nelly Korda didn’t hold back in recent comments about the evolving world of tech-focused golf leagues, particularly when it comes to how TGL and the newly announced Women’s TGL are structured. In an interview with Golfweek, Korda described the decision to launch WTGL as a separate, women-only league rather than integrating women into the existing TGL format as an “unbelievable miss.”
Her remarks crystallize a debate gaining traction among top women golfers: whether growing the sport requires shared, coed competitive platforms, or whether separate women’s offerings can succeed on their own terms. Korda’s perspective adds fuel to an already active conversation about golf’s future beyond traditional tours.
“Like, I don’t think that there’s a downside,” she said, “I just think that it would have been even greater to have both of them together.”
A Missed Opportunity, According to Korda
Korda was clear about what she feels has been overlooked. “I have mixed feelings on it, if I’m being very honest,” she said regarding the split between TGL and the standalone new WTGL. What she finds striking is how rare it has been for women to publicly voice similar concerns, even though the current structure separates the men’s and women’s tech golf experiences. “I think it’s a huge and unbelievable miss that we’re not playing alongside the men,” she added.
Her core point is simple: a coed golf league where women and men compete simultaneously, on the same platform, with the same stakes and purses, would be transformative. “There’s no greater way to grow the game,” she said, “and it would have been revolutionary. It would have been the first time, I think, that men and women are on the same playing field, playing for the same exact amount of money. But I also think it’s great that we are getting this opportunity, so that’s my mixed feelings.”
Weighing the WTGL Opportunity
While Korda has strong opinions about what TGL could have been, she hasn’t definitively ruled out her involvement in WTGL’s upcoming season. Several other top women–including Rose Zhang, Lexi Thompson, Charley Hull, Lydia Ko, Jeeno Thitikul, and Lottie Woad–have already committed to the women’s league.
Korda made it clear she’s still evaluating her options, and that part of her hesitation comes down to scheduling and logistics. “I’m just still weighing out the time commitment,” she said, explaining that her focus has remained firmly on preparing for the 2026 LPGA season. She admitted that she hasn’t given her WTGL decision “too much thought yet,” largely because she’s been concentrating on her own competitive calendar.
“I think logistically, they’re still trying to figure some stuff out, so I will just weigh out my options in the near future,” she said.
As with many new sports ventures, uncertainty remains around timing, broadcast reach, team formats, and how WTGL will fit into the broader women’s golf ecosystem.
Golf Formats Are Changing
Korda’s comments come at a moment when professional golf is both experimenting with formats intended to draw new audiences. TGL, launched by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy in 2022, uses simulator-based competition and team branding to appeal to younger viewers and tech-oriented fans. Its second season recently kicked off, featuring rapid-fire matchups and scripted days reminiscent of alternate-reality sports presentations.
There’s growing chatter on social media and among golf circles now that such coed competition could provide better pathways for sponsorship, fan engagement, and marketability. According to Golfweek, there has been some thought on a shared league somewhere in the future.
“I think that is something that’s interesting to us and is interesting to the LPGA and is interesting to a lot of the players we’re talking to,” Mike McCarley, TMRW Sports founder, said in early January, “but right now, we’re really focused on building this out and providing, frankly, a nice stage and really nice platform to showcase the players and their personalities.”
Alyssa Polczynski Alyssa Polczynski is a multimedia journalist covering Major League Baseball for Heavy.com. She has experience as an editorial producer for MLB.com and contributed to the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR). More about Alyssa Polczynski
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