Tuesday was the long-awaited ESPN premiere of Tiger and Rory's new golf league, TGL. It featured the New York team (Xander, Matt Fitzpatrick and Rickie) vs. The Bay team (Ludvig, Wyndham and Shane Lowry) and Bay absolutely destroyed.
Social reactions seem to be overall positive though pointing out there are plenty of kinks to work through. And the ratings were shockingly good—earning around 920k viewers which added about 200k more from the Duke-Pitt basketball game before. For further perspective, the Sunday finale of the PGA tourney was about 460k viewers and the LIV premiere on the CW was almost 300k.
I won't be doing a weekly review of each match but I did have a few takeaways:
1) THE CROWD
To me the biggest opportunity for the TGL will be how they use the stadium crowd. Right now, this ain't it.
One note I wrote down was how it felt more like a generic crowd than it did a sports crowd. Rumors swirled that TGL had to put out a pseudo-casting call to help fill the seats and after watching the broadcast, I 100% believe it. Most of the crowd shots showed a wealthy-looking assortment of patrons seated in the boxes, more interested in networking and enjoying the libations than watching the match. And every once in a while you'd catch a sauced up "normie" who was booing or cheering.
The crowd was at its best when they booed bad shots but the problem was that despite the sport being a team-based venture, it was clear that no one cared which team won. TGL will have to figure out how they can create "home" atmospheres if they want the crowd to continue to play a role.
I also LOVED when the players would actually chirp at the fans in the stands which got me thinking about another crowd-related upgrade... a live wager board. Imagine if viewers at home via an app and fans in the stands could live vote on which team would win, whether or not the player would make a putt, etc. etc. And the results would be piped into the stadium so players could see as it's happening whether the world believes in them or not. I could see guys like Xander THRIVING on a stat that gives him 0% chance to make a putt only to drain it and Ryder Cup style put his hand to his ear and challenge the crowd.
2) THE BROADCAST
If there one aspect of TGL that I have the most faith will get solved sooner than later it's the broadcast. With ESPN on board, they will quickly figure out how to kill dead air, how to liven up the interviews and how to best utilize a completely ground-up arena that was designed for broadcast.
And because I can't help myself, here were a few ideas I was noodling.
- Sexy up how this entire green complex transforms from shot-to-shot. Make it cool, futuristic, interesting. Show me the pistons engaging, show me a contour map evolving, show me the entire thing rotating. Turn it into a moment to bridge the dead period between holes.
- Tough needle to thread, but I do think a bit more insight into how and why these holes were created would be cool. Each was created by the industry's best and so there are likely traps and design decisions that you and I would never notice.
-
Roger Steele kind of disappeared. He's a super engaging personality and he'd probably be better served being right in the mix. Let's tell the ex-NBA ref he can have a seat and have Roger right up in there.
3) THE GAME
The most unfair thing I've heard from my friends in discussing TGL has been the comparisons with Tour golf. This is not "traditional" golf and the more TGL and viewers can put distance between the two, the more leeway they will have in trying new things and creating a better, made-for-TV product.
I think the biggest early signal of potential success was seeing how much genuine fun the players seemed to be having. Post-interviews have been filled with quotes like Lowry saying that it was the most fun two hours he's spent on a golf course. Players were... gasp... smiling, laughing, joking! All of which helps the audience enjoyment levels.
The format was tough to judge since The Bay blew out New York. Tiger's interview quotes seem to foreshadow the Hammer will be used liberally moving forward. And otherwise I hesitate to weigh in until I see an actual tight match.
The one nuance that has the most promise to produce drama is that they can concede putts. There were a few moments where, if things were a bit tighter, we may have seen some competitive tempers fly.
MY GRADE: B-
It was watchable. And that alone is an impressive feat. Time will tell if some of the larger issues get fixed and there are a hundred other things that people are picking apart on social—but I liked this way more than The Match. The tidy two hour block (cut way shorter if you record) is far more doable than watching an entire day or weekend of golf.
What did you all think?? Hit me up with your reactions.
