Lights, Cameras, Golf
Grass League announces partnership with Bleacher Report for prime time Par-3 golf league
If you’re disillusioned with the state of competitive golf at the moment, you’re not alone. The PGA Tour-PIF courtroom drama continues to rage on without end while Tiger Woods’ and Rory McIlroy’s much-ballyhooed TGL has been delayed. Competitive golf needs a hard reset—a return to roots—and this spring Grass League is hoping to offer just that with the launch of a new prime-time Par-3 golf league focused on emerging talent, high-stakes hole-by-hole action and true team camaraderie.
But they won’t be doing it alone. Bleacher Report will be joining forces with Grass League to produce and distribute the upstart circuit’s inaugural event on the B/R website, app and social channels, as well as TruTV. Described as “the World Series of Poker for golf” by Bleacher Report General Manager Bennett Spector, the league's maiden event will be held under the lights at Rolling Hills—a par-3 course in Tempe, Ariz., that is the state’s first fully lit golf course—between April 17th-20th.
Season 1 of Grass League will utilize a 36-hole, two-person scramble, no-stroke/low-gross format to produce team winners only. This is designed to emphasize the team above all and avoid the confusion seen on tours like LIV Golf, where the team golf component has been undermined by individual performances.
There will be 75 total teams including 20 “Franchise Teams,” each of which can field two teams much like an F1 team fielding two drivers in the same race. After the Franchise Teams, there will be 11 sponsor exemptions, two past champions, 28 exempt independents who finished in the top 30 the previous season and 14 teams who secured their spot in the main event through qualifiers to be held on April 17th. Teams will be divided into regional markets including Los Angeles, Phoenix, Minnesota, Tampa Bay, New York and more. Franchise team owners include the likes Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts and Roger Ehrenberg, Eberg Capital partner and part owner of the Miami Marlins, Alpine F1 Team and various other sports franchises.
Grass League is the brainchild of brothers Jimmy and Jake Hoselton, as well as friends Pete Wilson, Connor Riley and TJ Forster. After grinding on mini-tours for years, Jimmy returned home to Scottsdale and leased Rolling Hills—a neglected local muny—with his brother Jake and three best friends. With the help of former TPC Scottsdale greenskeeper Scott Hebert, they slowly restored the course to its former glory while launching Grass Clippings, a down-to-earth golf brand with charitable bent giving back to greenskeepers. Launching this spring, Grass League x Bleacher Report is the next step in their mission.