Inaugural TGL season hits high marks as golf broadens horizon

Partick Cantlay of Atlanta Drive tees off into the ScreenZone at the SoFi Centre in Palm Beach Gardens in Florida. Image courtesy TGL.

By Chuah Choo Chiang

With the inaugural TGL season approaching its climax, the scorecard for the innovative and prime time team golf league backed by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy makes for some impressive reading.

Star power, entertainment value, great golf, eye-catching virtual holes – check.

Impressive TV ratings, smooth delivery of sophisticated tech, fun and buzz for in-person fans – check.

Strong buy-in from a wide range of investors, nimble management and full backing from PGA Tour – check.

Six weeks on from its highly-anticipated launch, TGL presented by SoFi has proven to be additive to golf’s landscape and a massive success story.

The league has achieved so much in so little time that many believe will help advance the sport’s growth, especially amongst new and younger audiences.

“It’s just a different form of golf,” said two-time major winner Justin Thomas, whose Atlanta Drive team have secured a spot in the Playoffs.

McIlroy, whose Boston Common team includes Japanese star Hideki Matsuyama, added: “I think people have enjoyed watching it on TV. There’s nowhere I can go that people aren’t talking to me about it.”

Easy viewing

For sports fans in Asia, TGL is broadcast live primarily on Tuesday and/or Wednesday mornings, which makes for easy viewing on TV or a device.

The transformative league comprises of six teams (four players each) which are owned by some of the US.’s biggest sports franchise owners and A-list celebrities.

They include Stephen Curry and Serena Williams plus Steve Cohen (owner of New York Mets), Arthur Blank (owner of Atlanta Falcons) and Fenway Sports Group (owners of Boston Red Sox and Liverpool).

With long-time media executive Mike McCarley serving as CEO of TMRW Sports and with Woods and McIlroy co-founders of the venture, TGL is taking small but confident steps in showcasing a unique, engaging and exciting product.

Each TGL match is played over 15 holes – chosen from 30 original creations by three companies, including Nicklaus Design – with an emphasis on risk-reward and stunning visuals.

Virtual holes

The Spear, The Lava, On the Rocks and Boomerang are amongst the virtual holes created to test the players in the purpose-built, and tech-laden SoFi Centre on the campus of Palm Beach State College in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

Golfers hit their tee shots and approach shots in the ScreenZone, off of real grass or sand, from 35 yards out into a giant, five-story simulator screen with state-of-the-art technology that is more than 24x larger than the standard golf simulator.

Korea’s Joohyung ‘Tom’ Kim (centre) represents Jupiter Links with Tiger Woods and Kevin Kisner. Image courtesy TGL.

Within approximately 50 yards, players move into the GreenZone, a specially-built short game area which has a 41 yard wide rotating putting surface with the technology under the green to change the undulation of the greens.

The first nine holes are played in Triples format – each team member hits a shot in sequence – before going into the Singles format (1 vs 1) over the last six holes. The one fun twist is “The Hammer” which, when an orange towel is thrown by any team/player, can make a hole worth two points.

There’s no messing about as players are on a Shot Clock to ensure they rip shots into the giant screen or hit a shot within the short game area inside of 40 seconds, and each match lasts approximately two hours.

Camera-conscious

Inside SoFi Centre there are 73 camera sources capturing the action including 20 robotic ones and 10 in the virtual world. Included are six Full Swing monitors at both the front and back tee boxes, and six additional ones below a slope closer to the giant screen.

TV ratings have been above expectations – averaging 765,000 viewers across the six prime time matches on ESPN with three of the matches reaching a peak audience of 1.2 million viewers. 

Additionally, the TGL audience is one of the youngest in sports with 42%  of its audience in the advertiser-coveted Adult 18-49  demographic.

There are no gimmicks in TGL, and the format makes the matches compelling, and golfers being golfers, they have taken the competition seriously and the mic-ed up feature for every players provides for interesting insights and trash-talking.

Nearly every golfer in TGL as also commented on how much fun they are having playing TGL. Following Monday’s match, Atlanta Drive GC’s Patrick Cantlay commented, “It’s fun being on a team with these guys. I think we get along great.

“There’s good chemistry between us, and it’s a fun environment out there.” And Los Angeles Golf Club’s Sahith Theegala said, “This is the most fun golf I’ve played in a really long time.”

The regular season concludes on March 4, followed by the semi-final playoff series on March 17 and 18 and a best-of-three Finals series for the SoFi Cup on March 24 and 25.. If you’ve not seen TGL yet, don’t get left behind. It’s fun. (courtesy PGA Tour)

Also read: TGL double-header to see teams battle over league placings