Tiger Woods unveils TGL teammates, but will people watch virtual golf?
Tiger Woods unveils TGL teammates, but will people watch virtual golf?
Tiger Woods plays his shot from the third tee during the final round of the 2024 Masters Tournament. Getty Images
If Tiger Woods can’t walk, build a golf course around him.
Other teams include Rory McIlroy’s Boston Commons Golf, Justin Thomas’ Atlanta Drive GC, Collin Morikawa’s Los Angeles GC and Xander Shauffele and Rickie Fowler’s New York GC.
The hopes of Woods and pals (and the league’s financial partners), is that there is an audience for an indoor simulator league featuring some of the world’s best players. TGL is partnered with the PGA Tour and is seen by many as the tour’s answer to LIV Golf’s team competitions.
What should be of concern for both TGL and LIV Golf is that, outside of Ryder Cup International competition, there hasn’t appeared to be much demand for high-level team golf from a fan perspective.
TGL is taking the risk even further, banking on golf and sports fans wanting to watch indoor golf.
TGL appears determined to focus on sports betting and trash talking which doesn’t necessarily sound like a recipe for success. If you aren’t already sick of having sports gambling shoved in your face from every medium, you likely will be by next January. And anyone who has watched any incarnation of The Match in recent years knows that mic’d-up professional golfers are the cringiest of trash talkers.
“I feel very privileged to have played in the Tiger Era,” Kisner said. “Having the opportunity to compete against and alongside the GOAT has been one of the things I’ll remember most at the end of my career.”
With Masters television ratings and professional golf ratings down despite Scottie Scheffler doing Tiger-like things, it’s once again clear that there is no replacement for golf’s greatest and maybe only needle-mover. Having Tiger playing golf on television every week or two in prime time might actually be enough for many to tune in. The GOAT can’t walk much these days, but he sure as hell can still play golf.
There is also the tech side that could interest some. The TGL’s venue is the SoFi Center and it promises to be state of the art with screen 20x larger than a normal simulator screen with players hitting shots from up to 35 yards away. Chipping
