Golfzon America, the U.S. offshoot of the South Korean simulator giant, has announced the launch of the Golfzon Tour, bringing the concept of screen golf tournaments to the west. The competition will feature 12 five-player teams from various cities in the United States, Canada, England, and Mexico, with regional matches in October leading to playoffs in November and the Tour Finals in January at the 2025 PGA Show. The winning team will take home a $150,000 first-place prize, with the playoffs and finals broadcast on Golfzon’s YouTube channel and website.
Golfzon has been operating in the United States since 2016 and has around 140 locations throughout the country. The decision to launch the Golfzon Tour was inspired by the success of TGL, an indoor televised golf league backed by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy. Unlike South Korea’s GTour, which focuses on individual competitions, the Golfzon Tour will use a cumulative score, team match-play format, and round-robin brackets inspired by the college football playoff system to appeal to a western market.
The teams participating in the Golfzon Tour will be a mix of regional talent selected by Golfzon locations in each city. Anyone 18 or older, male or female, is eligible to compete, with preliminary matches organized by region to allow teams to compete on their home turf. Golfzon plans to cover travel costs for the top two seeds to attend the Tour Finals in Orlando and will spotlight players’ personal and professional backgrounds to help them build their brands.
While only the first tournament has been announced so far, Golfzon is committed to continuing the tour and is considering the addition of a junior screen-golf tour in the future. Director of marketing for Golfzon America, Steve Brown, stated that the goal is to make the Golfzon Tour as competitive and engaging as possible, drawing inspiration from successful promotional formulas used in events like the Summer Olympics and “Survivor.” The company aims to evolve and grow the concept of screen golf tournaments in the coming years.
