Floridian Billy Horschel represents TGL Atlanta Drive, Atlanta sports like a native

As he pushed his way through the smoke machine fog, Horschel stopped to do his own version of the “Dirty Bird” dance for the TV camera — which he repeated before the match was over.

And while you won’t see Horschel strut to the first tee at Augusta National in the same manner next month — at least not more than once — it’s all fun and games for the first-year TGL, the indoor golf league that’s big on flash and fun.

Horschel is even planning — but not revealing — what he’s going to do when the Drive plays its next match Feb. 17.

“I’ve got stuff up my sleeves,” Horschel said. “Listen, a ‘Dirty Bird’ is going to be done when we win matches. It may be one of those winning dances that I do and sort of have fun with it. I want people to see me in a different light than they may see on the golf course at a PGA Tour event. I like to have fun and be lighthearted and make fun of myself and I’m not afraid to do some things that may put me in a light to be made fun of, but I’m fine with that.”

The TGL, the brainchild of PGA Tour stars Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, is an attempt to bring more people into the game. There are six teams spread throughout the country — New York, San Francisco, Boston, Los Angeles, Jupiter (Fla.) and Atlanta.

There are four players on each team, and three of them compete in the matches, which are televised on ESPN. The ratings have been good, peaking at 1 million-plus the second week when Tiger Woods played.

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

The Atlanta team is owned by Falcons owner Arthur Blank and includes Horschel, Justin Thomas, Patrick Cantlay and Lucas Glover. The makeup of the team is rather arbitrary, but Horschel, Thomas and Cantlay all have won the Tour Championship at East Lake and Thomas (Alabama), Glover (Clemson) and Horschel (Florida) are all southern boys.

Horschel, who has a long-standing friendship with Blank, was an early commitment to the league after being approached in 2022 by TGL President and CEO Mike McCarley.

“Within the first couple minutes of him just saying what it was, it was in my head that, ‘Yes, I’m in,’” he said. “I love the game, and I think the game of golf can open so many doors, so many different avenues. It’s one sport where you can have different people from different backgrounds and ethnicity come together and bond over something.”

The TGL certainly is something different. The matches are played indoors at the high-tech arena that was specifically built for the league on the campus of Palm Beach State in south Florida. The playing surface is about the size of a football field and features a 64-by-53-foot simulator screen — about 10 times the size of the one at your favorite watering hole — and a 3,800 square-foot synthetic green that turns and changes slope. It was enough to impress a veteran like Horschel.

“I was just blown away by it the first time I saw it,” Horschel said. “Even when we went back out there for our first match I was blown away. Every time I’ve walked in there, I’m like, ‘Man, this is pretty darned cool.’ It’s like being a Falcons player and walking out onto Mercedes-Benz Stadium and being able to play in that stadium in front of all those fans is something those players have dreamed about. To have a semblance of that same feeling is pretty cool.”

The matches are played in front of 1,500 fans who aren’t shy about voicing their approval of disapproval.

“The fans are energized to see great golf shots,” Horschel said. “In the arena they’re a little bit more respectful when we hit bad ones. It’s all fun.”

The Drive beat Rickie Fowler’s New York Golf Club 4-0 in its first match, with Blank watching from the wings. They have a doubleheader Feb. 17 against the Los Angeles Golf Club (Collin Morikawa) and The Bay Golf Club (Ludvig Aberg). They play McIlroy’s Boston Common Golf on Feb. 24 and finish the regular season March 4 against Woods’ Jupiter Links.