Noah Kahan joins TGL’s Boston Common Golf as an investor

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“I am truly grateful for the opportunity to participate and invest in the world of golf in such an important way and to step into the world of golf for the first time.”

As Fenway Sports Group’s Boston Common Golf prepares for Monday’s TGL debut, the team is headlined by four-time major champion Rory McIlroy on the greens, but stars off the greens. Little by little, we are gaining strength and becoming a little more local.

Boston Common Golf announced Thursday that multiplatinum singer-songwriter Noah Kayhan will join the team as an investor thanks to his connection with Boston Common golfer and fellow Vermont native Keegan Bradley. did.

“I’ve had a really great relationship with Keegan. My conversations with Fenway Sports Group and my conversations with Keegan gave me an opportunity to be a part of this really great thing that’s happening at TGL. That was a great result,” Kahan said. glove. “I am truly grateful for the opportunity to participate and invest in the world of golf in such an important way and to step into the world of golf for the first time.”

Kayhan, a former Watertown resident who now splits his time between Nashville and Vermont, has risen through the ranks. His 2022 double platinum release Stick Season was the fourth most streamed album in the US on Spotify in 2024.

After being nominated for the 2024 Grammy Award for Best New Artist, Kayhan sold out two shows at Fenway Park last summer.

TGL, a technology-packed team golf league featuring some of the game’s biggest stars, including McIlroy, Tiger Woods and Justin Thomas, kicked off on January 7th.

Fenway Sports Group is the principal owner of Boston Common Golf. FSG’s principal owner, John Henry, also owns the Globe.

Kayhan is an avid golfer, even if his tee shot drives aren’t as refined as his chord progressions. He has participated in various pro-ams and played at famous courses such as TPC Sawgrass, where fans even caught him taking a swing ahead of a sold-out concert.

“I was so bad at golf that I was sometimes hesitant to shout from the rooftops that I loved it,” Kahan said. “But golf has been therapeutic for me. It’s really been the only consistent thing in my life for the past two and a half years. I don’t care where I am, I just watched the biggest show of my life, Going out and playing a round of golf – which of course would humble me, because I’m a terrible person – but it also just puts me in a place of zen, and again. It brought me back to a flat place.

“It makes me stop thinking about expectations and pressure and the feeling of fear of failure and all these things that I’ve really struggled with, the anxiety that comes with big changes in my career. Golf is for me. , it was a way for me to disconnect from those situations and the only thing in my life that didn’t touch me was my music. It’s really cool when I’m out there, I’m not someone who’s supposed to be really good at something. I’m just a (bad) golfer.”

Kahan is not the first musician to participate in Boston Common Golf. Singer Niall Horan, best known as a member of the popular boy band One Direction in the early 2010s, is already an investor thanks to his friendship with fellow Irishman McIlroy.

“As part of our strategy[to reach younger audiences]we will be looking at potential partners that we can bring on board as ambassadors/limited partners within our organization,” said Mark Leff, CEO of the team. Something happened,” he said. “We knew that Noah was a huge golf enthusiast, but in Noah’s case, we really want to build a connection between the fans and New England sports fans and the team, so what Noah brings is local golf. It’s a connection.”

There will be a lot of attention on Monday’s Boston debut. The highlight of this match will be a match between Woods, the league’s main helper on the players’ side, and McIlroy. In addition to McIlroy and Bradley, Boston Common Golf’s four-man roster includes Masters champion Adam Scott and Hideki Matsuyama.

Mr. Kahan had a chance to check out the SoFi Center in Florida, which was built specifically for TGL. The center features state-of-the-art simulators and an incredible “green zone” that utilizes a 41-yard-wide turntable and more than 600 pieces of mechanical equipment. Use actuators to form contours and slopes from hole to hole.

“It’s overwhelming,” Kahan said with a laugh. “It didn’t help that Rory and Keegan were hitting shots, too, and they were like, ‘No, come on, let Rory and Keegan hit a chip shot.'” I shot a chip shot in front of them. I’m not hitting (expletive).

“So I was sculling chips on the green like Rory, perfect 10 feet in the air. It was an overwhelming day, but a really great day.”

For Kahan, he hopes TGL’s format will allow the game to grow with a younger audience.

“I was mentally taken away from golf for a long time… (and) thought it was just a pretentious and probably boring game,” Curhan said. “Then I fell in love with golf and realized that I needed to tell more people about the wonders of golf.

“There’s a really great community in the golf scene, and I think TGL provides an opportunity to highlight that community. You look at the camaraderie of these teams, you look at the pros, you see these people, they’re perfect. They tell us who they really are, instead of seeing them as immaculately dressed, mute people who play eight hours on the weekend and disappear until the next day. tournament.

“I think it’s really great to be able to show who these people are and show us if there are places or moments where they can resonate with us as average golfers or just people in general. ”