Alexis Ohanian, the owner of TGL’s Los Angeles Golf Club, says LPGA star Nelly Korda has a “great point” in her criticism of the soon-to-launch WTGL not allowing the top women’s golfers to compete alongside PGA Tour players like Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, which she recently called an “unbelievable miss.”
Korda, the No. 2-ranked LPGA Tour golfer, last month told Golfweek she has “mixed feelings” about the upcoming women’s league—which will launch later this year—and is “surprised” no other women have spoken up. “I think it’s a huge and unbelievable miss that we’re not playing alongside the men,” she said. “There’s no greater way to grow the game, and it would have been revolutionary.”
Ohanian, who owns LAGC along with his wife Serena Williams, shares Korda’s vision. “I think Nelly’s got a great point here,” he told Front Office Sports. “Golf is one of the few sports where you could genuinely have men and women playing together in a really compelling way.”
WTGL is a partnership between the LPGA Tour and TGL parent company TMRW Sports, following the same structure as TGL, which is a partnership between the PGA Tour and TMRW. Seven players have committed to play in the inaugural season: Lexi Thompson, Charley Hull, Rose Zhang, Lydia Ko, Brooke Henderson, Lottie Woad, and Jeeno Thitikul. The league will feature teams of LPGA players, and matches will be played at the 1,500-seat SoFi Center in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., which is where all TGL matches are played.
Thinking about the possibility of men’s and women’s golfers competing together, Ohanian describes a hypothetical moment in which Korda and Collin Morikawa—a PGA Tour golfer who is on LAGC—debate how to play a shot, with Korda ultimately choosing her way, draining the putt, and the two celebrating together.
The Reddit co-founder believes moments like that would go viral. “That’s a clip that stops somebody in their feeds,” Ohanian told FOS. “Integrated teams would create clips you’ve never seen before.”
Mixed Events Still Possible
Ohanian has been outspoken from the beginning of TGL about his desire for the league to expand into women’s golf. Last year, he told FOS his “very first question” when TGL was being formed was, “Why aren’t you doing the LPGA? When are you doing the LPGA?” He said he invested “under the condition” he’d have the right of first refusal for a Los Angeles-based women’s golf team.
So far, Arthur Blank—the longtime owner of the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons and founding owner of TGL’s Atlanta Drive GC—is the only announced team owner for WTGL.
Now, Ohanian reiterates that he bought into the idea that there would eventually be “women joining. It was only a question of when. I’m glad we got this partnership worked out.”
There have been discussions about holding “mixed events” with teams from both TGL and WTGL, Ohanian said, and he thinks those will be huge hits. “You get this amazing opportunity to have mixed athletes really competing at the highest possible levels on the same team,” he says.
TMRW Sports CEO Mike McCarley said last month during WTGL’s launch announcement that coed opportunities were “something we’ve thought about. It’s something we’ve talked to a lot of different constituent groups about, and I would say it’s something that’s interesting.” But McCarley said the initial goal was to “create a stage, a platform, a real showcase for the women’s game and for the top players to really showcase their personalities and provide an environment like this for them.”
“Who knows what the future holds? I think at some point we’ll get to a place where we start to look at alternate versions and other opportunities, but I think first off, we’re focused on making sure that we can deliver WTGL with the best players in the world,” McCarley said.
The Need to Innovate
Ohanian also notes that because this is a new sport, the door should be left open to further experimentation—such as co-ed teams.
“In emerging sports, it’s imperative that we’re always willing to reassess and have the courage to adapt and change,” he told FOS.
Ultimately, it may be up to the golfers to push for mixed teams as opposed to separate men’s and women’s leagues, according to Ohanian.
“The athletes have the most leverage here, because they are the reason why we get to have teams, they’re the reason why we get to have a league,” Ohanian told FOS. “So we should be getting their feedback.”
