Nelly Korda called WTGL’s separate format a “huge and unbelievable miss.” The World No. 1 wanted male and female golfers sharing the same competitive stage, and she said so plainly in January 2026. But TGL co-founder Rory McIlroy has now offered his own thoughts on the mixed format.
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Speaking at the DP World India Championship 2026, the Northern Irishman explained the thought process behind the decision.
“In my opinion, I think it’s amazing to give women their own platform. I think that’s, I think when we talked about WTGL, obviously there were talks of a mixed team. I mean, I think the guys are gonna go and support the women, and we’ll be there, we’ll be at games, and, you know, we’ll help to raise the profile of the overall platform,” Rory McIlroy told EssentiallySports.
But while he acknowledged talk of mixed teams, he added that women golfers need their own platform.
“But I do think that it is important to give the women their own platform and encourage them to grow that themselves. I think from a TGL perspective in the men’s, I think it’s been really beneficial for guys to show a bit of their personalities and to show a different side of themselves, and hopefully that’ll be the same for the women coming up here in a few weeks.”
Nelly Korda is not completely wrong to have those concerns. As she explained why it was a huge miss, she said that it would have been a perfect opportunity to grow the game.
The Grant Thornton Invitational is a mixed-gender tournament featuring PGA Tour and LPGA Tour professionals.
Besides that, TGL’s 2026 matches averaged 488,000 viewers. Similarly, its reported season-wide unique audience exceeded 21 million. Integrating women would, in principle, place them directly in front of those viewers instead of requiring a separate league to acquire its own audience.
Nelly Korda even said she was surprised no other women golfer playing WTGL had thought about it or spoken about it. However, that’s not completely off the table yet. Charley Hull, who will play in WTGL, which starts on November 8, 2026, offered a middle ground.
Speaking to Front Office Sports, she said WTGL is fine as is right now. She acknowledged that men have already played TGL and women have not. So they needed to understand the tournament and its format first. However, she didn’t “say never for the future.”
The same goes for Rose Zhang, who supported the idea of mixed teams. “There’s a lot of ways to be creative about it,” she told Front Office Sports.
But Rory McIlroy sees a standalone league as a way to reveal women’s personalities, and his counterargument also has merit.
A dedicated women’s league guarantees women all the competitive playing slots and the central narrative. A mixed competition could deliver crossover exposure, but would require decisions about how many women feature, whether they receive equivalent promotion, and whether established male stars dominate coverage.
Therefore, Rory McIlroy’s statement about letting women golfers show their personalities makes a lot of sense. There are many WTGL players who share the Northern Irishman’s views.
Speaking at WTGL’s media day on September 20, 2026, Lexi Thompson spoke about this.
“It [golf] needs something a little bit different, being able to show our personalities, how we interact with each other and not just these super focused rounds we are playing week in and week out,” she said.
Yana Wilson and Megan Khang also expect to have completely different environments. Both said it would be fun, and without professional event restrictions, they could show more of their personalities.
As Rory McIlroy pointed out, TGL did help men golfers show their personalities. For instance, during a February 2025 match, Tiger Woods misheard a 199-yard distance as 99 yards and hit a wedge roughly 100 yards. Kevin Kisner and Tom Kim collapsed laughing.
The veteran golfer later said that, “One of the most embarrassing moment in my golfing career just happened. I just screwed up. That was embarrassing.”
Similarly, there’s Billy Horschel’s “Dirty Bird” dance celebration and Tom Kim’s pre-match fashion attracting attention on TikTok and Instagram.
That’s what women’s golf needs right now. In fact, LPGA Tour commissioner Craig Kessler explicitly asked players to become more visible.
“If we ask you to be a global superstar, lean in,” Kessler recalled ahead of the CME Tour Championship last year. “Show up in culture everywhere you can. If we ask you to do walk-and-talks, not just you but your caddies, try it.”
He said the same about the LPGA Tour not being able to take advantage of the women’s sports boom. Both the WNBA and women’s soccer have attracted large audiences. While the LPGA Tour also showed promise, it failed to capitalize on it.
“The LPGA has done almost nothing to tell the stories of our athletes,” he said during an interaction with Sports Business Journal.
He even cited examples of how Charley Hull lighting up a cigarette on course and Nelly Korda attending the Met Gala have helped show their personalities.
That’s something Rory McIlroy believes that WTGL can do for all participating golfers.
Ultimately, WTGL’s success could depend on how well it turns Rory McIlroy’s vision of personality-driven golf into stronger fan connections and sustained interest in the women’s game. While Nelly Korda’s mixed-team proposal could offer another route to wider exposure, the league’s first season will show whether a standalone platform can deliver the same impact.