TGL Season 3: New Teams, Trades, and the Stars Who Are In (and Out!)

Alright, let’s talk TGL. The simulator league, the one Tiger and Rory cooked up. It’s back for Season 3. They pulled off some decent stuff in the first two years. Proved the concept, added some wrinkles to the gameplay, built some momentum. Now they’re rolling out Season 3, and guess what? There’s a whole new team. Motor City GC. They’re the seventh franchise.

On Tuesday, TGL dropped the full rosters. And yeah, there are changes. A new team means shuffling the deck. Remember how teams had four players, with three playing each week? Forget that. Now it’s five players per team, but still only three guys teeing it up in the SoFi Center down in Florida. They’re trying to shake things up, I guess. Some big names are out, some new faces are in. And get this, they even pulled off their first-ever trade. Before the rosters were even announced. Talk about drama.

TGL Season 3 kicks off December 27th. Let’s break down who’s where.

The Drive: Ready to Roll

Here’s the lineup for The Drive:

• Justin Thomas
• Billy Horschel
• Patrick Cantlay
• Chris Gotterup
• Michael Brennan

Lucas Glover was part of Atlanta’s win in the first SoFi Cup, but he’s out for Year 3. Chris Gotterup, though? This guy won three times on the PGA Tour in 2026, was a beast at the Presidents Cup, and was an alternate for The Drive last season. Now he’s a full-timer. And Michael Brennan? He snagged wins at the Wyndham Championship and the Baycurrent Classic this past season. He’s now the fifth man on The Drive. Looks like a solid crew.

Bay Golf Club: New Blood, Same Energy?

Bay Golf has been pretty entertaining the last two seasons. But it’s gonna look a bit different. Monday, TGL announced Shane Lowry got traded. Yeah, traded. From Bay Golf Club to Boston Common Golf. The price? Fourth pick in TGL’s roster formation and a future pick. So Lowry’s gone.

Who did Bay Golf Club bring in? They snagged the reigning Champion Golfer of the Year, Ryan Fox. And get this, 19-year-old phenom Blades Brown. This kid earned his PGA Tour card through the Korn Ferry Tour this past season. That’s a pretty big deal for a 19-year-old.

Here’s the new Bay Golf Club roster:

• Wyndham Clark
• Min Woo Lee
• Ludvig Aberg
• Blades Brown
• Ryan Fox

Boston Common Golf: Trading Up

Trading for Lowry was Boston’s big move for Year 3. Adam Scott, who was with Boston Common for the first two seasons, is out. Not playing this year. But they picked up Michael Thorbjornsen. This guy won the Rocket Classic last season. He was an alternate for Boston Common last year, and now he’s a full-time player. Solid addition.

The Boston Common Golf roster:

• Rory McIlroy
• Shane Lowry
• Keegan Bradley
• Hideki Matsuyama
• Michael Thorbjornsen

Jupiter Links: Tiger’s Back, But…

Alright, the big story here. Tiger Woods. He’s back. Last season, he spent most of it “coaching” Jupiter Links while he was recovering from surgeries on his Achilles and back. He did make it back for the TGL Finals, where they lost to Los Angeles Golf Club. That was his only competitive golf in 2026, after that DUI arrest in March. It’s still unclear when he’ll be back on the PGA Tour, but as a co-founder, obviously, he’s in for TGL Season 3.

He’s back with Tom Kim and Max Homa. They’re joined by Akshay Bhatia, who was an alternate last year, and Keith Mitchell, who’s new to the league. Kevin Kisner, a founding member of Jupiter Links, is no longer playing.

The Jupiter Links roster:

• Tiger Woods
• Tom Kim
• Max Homa
• Akshay Bhatia
• Keith Mitchell

The Reigning Champs: No Changes Needed?

The defending champions are keeping their entire winning roster. And they’re adding Ben James, one of the PGA Tour’s bright young stars, to round things out. Fleetwood, Rose, and Theegala beat Jupiter Links in the TGL Finals last season. Morikawa was dealing with a back injury then. James joined the PGA Tour in June. He earned his card by finishing first in PGA Tour University. Sounds like they’re not messing with a winning formula.

The champs’ roster:

• Tommy Fleetwood
• Justin Rose
• Collin Morikawa
• Sahith Theegala
• Ben James

Motor City GC: The New Kids on the Block

This is the new expansion team. Brooks Koepka was their first pick in the roster formation process. After the other teams used their first-round picks to grab an alternate, Motor City GC snagged Jackson Koivun with their second pick. This kid is being called golf’s next big thing. They rounded out the roster with Si Woo Kim, Jake Knapp, and Bud Cauley.

The expansion team’s roster:

• Brooks Koepka
• Jackson Koivun
• Si Woo Kim
• Jake Knapp
• Bud Cauley

NYGC: Big Name Out, Familiar Faces In

The biggest name to leave TGL? Xander Schauffele. Two-time major champ. Gone after the first two years. His founding teammates – Matt Fitzpatrick, Rickie Fowler, and Cameron Young – are still on NYGC. They’re bringing in Matt’s brother, Alex, and Ben Griffin. Both are newcomers to the simulator league.

The NYGC roster:

• Matt Fitzpatrick
• Rickie Fowler
• Cameron Young
• Ben Griffin
• Alex Fitzpatrick

The Bigger Picture: Is TGL Here to Stay?

Look, there’s a world where Season 3 could have been the beginning of the end for this dome simulator league. The initial two-year deals for players and TV rights were up. A professional screen golf league might have a short shelf life in today’s world where attention spans are shorter than a chip shot.

But that doesn’t seem to be the case for TGL. They inked a new multi-year deal with ESPN. And bringing in young guns like Koivun, Brennan, Thorbjornsen, and Brown? That shows that while TGL might not be for every golf fan, it could be a spot for the next generation of golfers. Everyone’s buzzing about what Koivun’s gonna do. He won in his third pro start and was a Presidents Cup star. Brennan’s on the Ryder Cup radar. Brown just became the youngest ever to snag a PGA Tour card. Their interest in TGL? That’s a good sign they believe this thing can keep growing.

It’s obviously fine if you just want to watch Koivun, Brennan, or Rory at Augusta, Pebble, St. Andrews, or Riviera and not watch screen golf. TGL isn’t for everyone. It doesn’t have to be. But if it’s popular enough with PGA Tour pros and can actually be interesting and entertaining to a new demographic of fans that golf is trying to reach – you know, the Koivun age group – then yeah, it’ll be a success. It’s a startup, still got work to do. But adding young talent, expanding rosters, and a new franchise led by Koepka and Koivun? That shows TGL’s arrow is still pointing in the right direction. For now, anyway. We’ll see how it all shakes out on the virtual greens. You can catch all the action starting December 27th. For more on the latest in professional golf, check out PGA.com.