WTGL starts Sunday with an $11m purse, about half of TGL's

Rose Zhang will hit the first shot in WTGL history on Sunday 8 November, when her New York Golf Club team, which includes Lydia Ko, play Michelle Wie West’s Los Angeles Golf Club at the SoFi Center in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. The match starts at 3pm Eastern (20:00 GMT) on ESPN.

The 25 LPGA players on the league’s five teams will share $11 million, paid at the end of the season. “The total purse will be $11 million and aligns with the major championships in women’s golf,” a WTGL spokesperson told Front Office Sports. The men’s TGL paid $21 million in each of its first two seasons; each season’s champions took $9 million between them and the last-placed team $1.5 million. WTGL has not published its breakdown. Payouts will depend on where a team finishes and how often a player plays, the spokesperson said, and players will also receive an undisclosed amount of league equity.

Charley Hull (Atlanta Drive GC) and Lottie Woad (Boston Common Golf) are the only British players in the league.

Each team fields three of its five players in a match. A match is 15 holes, nine of alternate shot and then six of singles, with each player taking two, according to ESPN. Every hole is worth one point, and all 15 are played even after the result is settled. Each team can throw the hammer three times a match to double the value of a hole, and letting the 40-second shot clock run out costs a stroke. Wie West told ESPN the heartbeat sound that starts with 15 seconds left is “kind of wild”. A tied match goes to a best-of-three closest-to-the-pin shootout from 25 to 50 yards.

Annika Sörenstam has designed one of the new holes, a par 3 called SOS that will be played in the opening match. Players hit from an iceberg tee over a 17th-century Swedish warship, modelled on one that sank in Stockholm harbour on its maiden voyage in 1628, to an island green. It has 12 tees, from 119 to 233 yards. A tee shot into the surrounding snow carries no penalty but leaves a recovery shot of about 40 yards; a ball in the water costs a stroke.

Motor City Golf Club, with Lexi Thompson and Jeeno Thitikul, play Los Angeles in the second match on Tuesday 10 November, at 8pm Eastern (01:00 GMT on Wednesday) on ION. Each team plays four regular-season matches up to 15 December. The top four go into semi-finals on 20 and 21 December, and the best-of-three final is on 22 and 23 December. The men’s league starts its third season on 27 December.

Sources

• Front Office Sports: WTGL’s first season will pay players $11M in prize money
• ESPN: What to know ahead of the inaugural WTGL season
• ESPN: What is WTGL? 2026 schedule, teams, format, where to watch
• WTGL release via First Call Golf: Annika Sörenstam designs new holes for inaugural season of WTGL
• WTGL release via First Call Golf: WTGL, ESPN and ION announce inaugural season schedule