TGL features an abundance of marquee names, but there’s also a few notable absences. 

One of the stars who bypassed playing in the six-team, 24-player simulator league is Jordan Spieth. The three-time major champion, however, recently pooh-poohed the idea of joining the venture on “The Smylie Show” with Smylie Kauffman, disclosing several reasons for his decision. 

“I’ve talked with those guys from the very beginning,” Spieth said. “Just where I’m at in life with my two young kids, and I live in Dallas, it just isn’t a great time right now, given when it is in our schedule. You’re seeing most of those guys shoot back. But most of those guys either live there or live close to there (in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.) or don’t have multiple kids under 4 years old. So little different place in life right now.”

But that doesn’t mean Spieth isn’t watching. 

“The Tiger vs. Rory [match] was pretty exciting to the end,” the 31-year-old said, “and from what I’m hearing, (the Presidents Day tripleheader) was, too. The concept is pretty cool. I’m having a different demographic ask me about it at the course than your typical network consumers of a PGA Tour event on the weekend. They seem to be accessing what they are trying to access which is great if it is another way to grow the game.”

This week, though, a new wrinkle was brought into the upstart league. Tony Finau signed a one-match deal with Los Angeles GC, with Justin Rose and Tommy Fleetwood unable to play Monday’s match due to pre-existing commitments. 

Could Spieth—or fellow Dallas native Scottie Scheffler, another notable exclusion from TGL—be interested in filling in?

“I’ve been asked by a couple players now to sub in,” Spieth said. “Still seeing that as an issue for my scheduling purposes here. I’ve been there when Scottie has been asked and it’s the same sort of situation.”

There have been rumblings of TGL expanding next year. If a Dallas team is added, maybe Spieth and Scheffler would be up for the commitment. 

“Throw one of these venues in Dallas and we might have a better chance of joining,” Spieth said. “Maybe down the road.”

Spieth gave a hypothetical Dallas team of him, Scheffler, Will Zalatoris and Tom Kim (Kim currently plays for Jupiter Links with Tiger Woods, Max Homa and Kevin Kisner). 

That would sure be a star-studded squad—and might ease the pain of a city still reeling from the Luka Doncic trade.


This article was originally published on www.si.com as Jordan Spieth Hints to Whether He Would Join TGL Simulator League.