Rory McIlroy makes big claim about TGL’s bunkers, says it has the same sand as Augusta

Rory McIlroy has made a big claim about the TGL bunkers, stating that they have the same sand as Augusta National.

Rory McIlroy is the co-founder of the TGL alongside Tiger Woods. The new tech-infused league will begin on January 7 at the SoFi Center in West Palm Beach, Florida. He is part of the Boston Common Golf Club, owned by Fenway Sports Group.

On Friday, December 20, Rory McIlroy interacted with media to promote the Boston Common GC's docu-series, ‘unCOMMON: Building a Boston Sports Team. During the press conference, McIlroy reflected on the course setup at the SoFi Center for TGL.

"So the playing surfaces are very realistic because they are real," he said as per NBC Sports. "We’re playing off real Bermuda grass for the fairways, real Bermuda rough, if you do hit into the rough. And, yeah, I guess the sand, that is the same sand that Augusta uses in their bunkers."

"And once you get within 40 yards of the green, then you transition to the green zone where all of that is artificial turf. But I still feel like the ball reacts very realistically on the green."

He added that they thought about using real grass and real green but were afraid that the turf could crack in case of rotating green with jacks underneath.

"So, we made the decision to go with artificial for the green because we want to make it interesting. We want to make, every time that we go on the green and we play the 15 holes, the back green is slightly different each time, with it being able to rotate them with the slopes being able to change. That’s the reason we went to the artificial turf on the green."

"The playing surfaces are very realistic. Whenever you hit it out of the rough, you have to think about whether you’re going to get a flyer; whether it’s going to come out soft, a lot of things that you would have to think about on a real golf course."

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Who else is in Rory McIlroy's Boston Common Golf Club?

In addition to Rory McIlroy, Boston Common Golf Club features Adam Scott, Shane Lowry, and Keegan Bradley. All four players on this TGL team are major champions. McIlroy leads with four wins, while the others have one major win each.

The Boston Common Golf Club will play its first match against Jupiter Links GC on January 27. TGL features 24 players divided into six teams, who will play against each other, and the top four teams will qualify for the playoffs.