Imago
Mandatory Credits: @nellykorda/Instagram
Imago
Mandatory Credits: @nellykorda/Instagram
Tiger Woods might have invested millions of dollars to get WTGL rolling after months of planning, but Nelly Korda isn’t impressed. She remains conspicuously uncommitted and feels Woods’s TMRW Sports missed a big opportunity with WTGL.
Watch What’s Trending Now!
“I have mixed feelings on it if I’m being honest,” Korda told Golfweek earlier this week in Orlando, where she was preparing for the LPGA’s season-opening Tournament of Champions. “I’m surprised no other girls have, or no one’s really spoken out about it. I think it’s a huge and unbelievable miss that we’re not playing alongside the men. There’s no greater way to grow the game, and it would have been revolutionary.
“It would have been the first time that men and women were on the same playing field, playing for the same amount of money. But I also think it’s great that we are getting this opportunity, so those are my mixed feelings.”
That reference to “the same amount of money” carries weight when viewed through the current financial structure of TGL. The men’s tech-infused league launched with a reported $21 million season purse, with $9 million going to the winning team alone, translating to roughly $2.25 million per player on a four-man roster. By comparison, while the LPGA Tour’s overall prize money has grown significantly, those earnings are spread across a full season.
In 2026, the LPGA will offer $132 million across 33 events, putting the average tournament purse around $4 million, with individual winners typically earning a fraction of that. A fully integrated TGL-WTGL format would, in theory, have placed women directly into one of the richest single-event payout structures in the sport. Instead, WTGL launches as a separate ecosystem, one that is still waiting for its own financial benchmarks to be set.
The LPGA Tour has experienced significant growth over the last two years, from 2023 to 2026. Prize money increased massively. The 2024 season featured a record $118 million in total prize money, up from $108 million in 2023. For 2025, the total prize money was $131 million, a roughly 90% increase from 2021. For 2026, 33 events will offer $132 million. The growth truly has been exponential, and even TGL has seen good growth in the second season so far. Combining the success of both could have been game changer, per Korda.
TGL already was revolutionary in its nature, with distinct features like simulator golf, team format, mic’d up moments, and WTGL would probably follow the same path. But what could have made it even better was to have women and men come together to compete. And this isn’t an alien idea; a concept like this already exists.
Imago
Mandatory Credits: LPGA/YouTube
Case in point: Grant Thornton Invitational. It’s an event where men and women golfers come together in teams to compete in fourball and foursomes. Nelly Korda has played here twice. At the 2023 Grant Thornton Invitational, she teamed with Tony Finau in what both described as pure fun.
She returned to the event in 2025, this time partnering with Denny McCarthy, and doubled down on her message. She said there that the best way to grow the game is for PGA Tour and LPGA pros to come together and lift and support each other. Her philosophy on team golf is straightforward.
“[Mixed format] showcases the best women and men coming together and having fun and playing something different, something that we don’t get to do every single day. I think that just brings so much excitement to what the normal golf fans would be seeing,” she said of mixed golf.
Despite the passion, she is in a dilemma about joining. Firstly, because she needs to focus on the 2026 season and regain her #1 status, and secondly, the mixed format isn’t on TGL or WTGL’s immediate agenda.
Time commitment and logistics also remain part of her evaluation. Korda has said she is still weighing the demands of the league as organizers continue to finalize details, noting that her primary focus right now is preparing for the LPGA season and positioning herself for another run at the top of the world rankings.
Not just Nelly Korda, but even Tony Finau knows the good things the mixed format will bring. He understands the uniqueness and learning opportunities of women and men playing together. Also, the Tour pro understands that golfers are lucky enough to play on some international teams, but they hardly get a partner to cheer on, and the mixed format allows them to do so.
Stars like Jeeno Thitikul, Charley Hull, and Rose Zhang commit to the new women’s tech-infused league, set to launch in the winter of 2026-27. Hull and Lexi Thompson have expressed their enthusiasm for playing the new age golf with innovative technology, but there haven’t been any thoughts about not integrating TGL and WTGL.
TMRW Sports has not entirely closed the door on that idea. Mike McCarley, the former television executive who founded TGL alongside Woods and Rory McIlroy, has previously acknowledged that a coed format is of interest to both the league and the LPGA, even if the current focus remains on building a strong standalone platform for the men’s competition.
Mixed format Golf is gaining so much attention that in 2028, the world will get to witness it on a global stage.
Top Stories
Los Angeles will set the stage for what Nelly Korda has been rooting for in 2028
The International Olympic Committee has confirmed that there will be a mixed-team golf event at the 2028 Los Angeles Games. Each team will have one male and one female golfer from the same country. Each pair will play two rounds of 18 holes, using both the foursomes (alternate shot) and four-ball (best ball) formats. This structure ensures there is a lot of variety and depth in strategy.
The mixed-team event will take place at the Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles, where players can work together to show their national pride. There can be only one team from each country, and the players on the teams are chosen from those who have already qualified for individual Olympic golf.
“I think it would be really good for the game of golf. I would say since the Olympics happen every four years, you don’t want it to be just like a regular event in a sense. You want it to be something different. I think that would be really fun if there were a team aspect involved as well as the individual,” Korda said of the new Olympic addition.
Adding this format fits with the IOC’s bigger goals of making sports more balanced between men and women and more innovative. This is the first time that golf has been played as a team sport at the Olympics since 1904. It shows that more athletes and governing bodies are supporting it.
While World No. 1 Thitikul, Hall of Famer Lydia Ko, and rising stars like Zhang and Woad have committed, Korda’s absence speaks loudest. Will WTGL evolve, or will it miss its revolutionary moment?
Related Newsletters
