When TMRW Sports announced the launch of WTGL, they expected it to be greeted with overarching enthusiasm. But world No. 2 Nelly Korda called the decision a “huge and unbelievable miss.” She wanted women competing alongside men instead of creating two separate leagues. Now, TMRW Sports CEO Mike McCarley has responded to it, and he is not ruling out a mixed-gender TGL event in the near future.

“The reality is we’re going to do both,” he said. “We have the opportunity to have a men’s league at a certain time that works for them for the PGA Tour schedule, and then we have an opportunity to have a women’s league that works at the right time for the LPGA schedule. And then we will have an opportunity to bring the men and women together to play in what I think will be unique, big events that could resonate globally.”

McCarley further said that before founding WTGL, he had spoken to “all the players,” including male and female golfers. Regardless, the decision to start women’s-only league instead of a mixed-gender event was met with skepticism and opposition. Korda argued that placing men and women on the same teams would have been revolutionary. She called it a once-in-a-generation opportunity and felt that Tiger Woods’s TMRW Sports let it slip. Korda, in fact, was frustrated with how her fellow pros chose to stay quiet.

“I’m surprised no other girls have, or no one’s really spoken out about it. I think it’s a huge and unbelievable miss that we’re not playing alongside the men. There’s no greater way to grow the game, and it would have been revolutionary.”

The frustration wasn’t without reason. Currently, only the Grant Thornton Invitational is a mixed-gender event on this side of the Atlantic. While the tournament has sparked enthusiasm among fans, it has rarely seen any of the world’s top male golfers participating in it. TGL, by its very nature, is a fun simulator golf league that had the chance to latch on to it and increase its popularity.

At the same time, it could’ve offered female pros a much-needed exposure. TGL airs on Prime Time on ESPN. So Korda’s frustration was a shared one and was justified, which is why McCarley isn’t closing doors on mixed events. He is trying to schedule them.

Whether that satisfies Korda and other critics remains to be seen, but the direction is clear. TMRW Sports sees mixed competition as a part of its long-term vision and not an afterthought. Two current TGL owners, Arthur Blank and Alexis Ohanian, have already bought into WTGL teams. The league has institutional backing. However, it still faces scrutiny.

TGL’s Technology Holds Up Under Scrutiny

The WTGL debate is not the only challenge McCarley is encountering. Critics have also raised concerns about the accuracy of TGL’s full-swing simulator technology. At times, players’ reactions on camera led observers to believe that the system missed the shots entirely. However, McCarley has shut that down with numbers. Over two seasons, players hit 1,922 shots into the screen. Only once, from Tommy Fleetwood in season one, did it go undetected.

“When you are putting a camera, and players are mic’d up, giving us and the fans the complete access, you’re gonna get reactions like that,” McCarley said.

The mic’d-up format captures every frustrated reaction in real time. That transparency creates the impression of more errors than actually exist. The data tells a different story entirely.

Off the course, TMRW Sports keeps building. McCarley expects to finalize media rights deals for both TGL and WTGL within the next several months. The league is also scouting new venues globally. For Korda and the women yet to commit, the league they will join may look very different from the one they questioned.