Former LPGA star Michelle Wie West, a co-owner of TGL’s Los Angeles Golf Club, will compete as a player in WTGL, the women’s version of the indoor team golf league launching later this year.
Wie West was confirmed Monday as WTGL’s eighth player commitment, joining Lexi Thompson, who has scaled back her professional schedule in recent years, and full-time LPGA members Charley Hull, Rose Zhang, Lydia Ko, Brooke Henderson, Lottie Woad, and Jeeno Thitikul. Zhang is also a limited partner in TGL’s The Bay Golf Club.
Wie West, 36, last played on the LPGA Tour in 2023.
TGL, co-founded by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, is in its second season, currently consisting of six four-man teams, with three players competing in each of the teams’ five regular-season matches. No teams or official league format have been announced for WTGL, but it is expected to launch with many similarities to its male counterpart.
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. WTGL is a partnership between the LPGA and TGL parent company TMRW Sports, following the same structure as TGL, which is a partnership between the PGA Tour and TMRW.
“As an investor in Los Angeles Golf Club and a fan of TGL, I’m excited for the chance to compete again through WTGL, which will be a powerful platform for women’s golf,” Wie West said in a statement Monday.
Last year, Wie West told Front Office Sports she “would love” to help bring women’s golf to TGL. “The technology aspect that TGL is bringing to the sport is really fun,” she said during an episode of Portfolio Players. “It’s never going to take over green-grass golf. That’s always going to be the main thing. But I think there’s different versions of golf now.”
LAGC majority owner Alexis Ohanian has been a vocal supporter of bringing the women’s game to TGL, even going so far as telling FOS last year that he “invested under the condition that I’d have a right of first refusal for an L.A. women’s golf team.” Last week, Ohanian told FOS he remained excited about WTGL, despite agreeing with Nelly Korda’s criticism of the league not yet allowing women’s golfers to compete alongside men in a mixed format.
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, which is currently in the market for a media rights partner. ESPN airs TGL matches.
Wie West would likely be allowed to invest in whichever team she plays for—whether it’s an L.A. club owned by Ohanian or not. Woods, in addition to co-founding TMRW and TGL, is a co-owner of his Jupiter Links Golf Club. He played in matches last year but has not yet this season as he recovers from back surgery.
Wie West will attend LAGC’s TGL match Monday night against Atlanta.
