Hideki Matsuyama, A TGL Player, Isn't Exactly A Diehard Fan Of The New Virtual Golf League

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While his Boston Common team has played two TGL matches, Hideki Matsuyama has yet to make his debut in the virtual golf league. Based on his admission about the new league co-founded by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, he doesn't exactly sound like he's chomping at the bit to do so.

Matsuyama, who began the 2025 PGA Tour season with a win at The Sentry, will make his TGL debut on Monday when the league hosts a President's Day triple-header. Matsuyama's Boston Common squad will take on The Bay Golf Club, which is headlined by Ludvig Aberg and Shane Lowry.

The 32-year-old Matsuyama is teeing it up in this week's Genesis Invitational as the defending champion, albeit at a different golf course, and when asked whether he'd been keeping up and watching TGL through the first few weeks of its season, he didn't sugarcoat his answer.

"I watched the opener maybe for 10, 15 minutes. I still haven't visited the arena, so there's lots of things I need to study, but I'm really looking forward to playing next week," Matsuyama explained.

You have to respect the honesty, but saying you've only watched 10 minutes of the opener and haven't tuned into a single second of any of the other matches that have followed isn't exactly a great promotional step. If a marquee player in the league isn't even watching, golf fans may not be all that interested either.

Hideki Matsuyama isn't exactly fired up about TGL. (Photo by James Gilbert/PGA TOUR via Getty Images)

Then again, Matsuyama is all golf all the time. He's getting ready to play in his sixth event in seven weeks, and plays a deeper schedule than many of the top players on the PGA Tour.

As someone who is guilty of reading between the lines and goes off vibes more often than not, Matsuyama showing little interest in TGL and having not yet hit a single ball into the big screen makes me think his nonchalantness may make him a killer in the virtual league.

He's taking the strategy of ‘show up and hit a golf ball into a screen’ approach, which is honestly pretty refreshing.

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Mark covers all sports at OutKick while keeping a close eye on the world of professional golf. He graduated from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga before earning his master's degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee. Before joining OutKick, he wrote for various outlets, including SB Nation, The Spun, and BroBible. Mark was also a writer for the Chicago Cubs Double-A affiliate in 2016, when the team won the World Series. He's still waiting for his championship ring to arrive. Follow him on Twitter @itismarkharris.