Final week, I wrote about how TGL—a simulator league that can characteristic PGA Tour gamers—has some house to seize the eye of golf followers in 2025.
Operating from January via March, TGL has quite a bit going for it. That features a worthwhile time slot on ESPN and the very fact Tiger Woods goes to be a constant participant within the league regardless of his lack of aggressive involvement in Tour golf at this stage in his profession.
The format and know-how, which you’ll examine right here, can also be intriguing. There might be matches that includes three gamers on every four-man roster, ultimately resulting in a crew playoff. That construction may additionally make for fertile playing floor, an area golf hasn’t correctly explored so far.
My opinion on TGL is that it may very well be a fantastic factor for golf. The TV product must be higher than a standard broadcast and being on ESPN is a large increase to drawn in informal viewers. Will it revolutionize golf? I’m not keen to go there however I’m optimistic that it may very well be very useful for a sport caught within the mud.
Nevertheless, there are a number of regarding features of TGL that might maintain it again. If it have been to battle, these parts would probably be the culprits.
In no explicit order, listed below are 5 causes TGL won’t resonate with individuals.
1. The groups haven’t any that means
This one is a head-scratcher, particularly after LIV simply made the very same mistake.
The TGL groups are utterly arbitrary. Gamers are representing main cities however a lot of the gamers usually are not from that metropolis. The foursomes haven’t any relationship to one another past the truth that everyone seems to be a Tour participant. Why is every participant on every crew? No person is aware of.
And there received’t be house or street video games; every little thing takes place at SoFi Enviornment in South Florida. So why ought to these gamers be representing a metropolis within the first place?
Certainly one of LIV’s downfalls is that its groups got here collectively arbitrarily. Gamers are traded randomly. There isn’t a construction for why a participant must be on a sure crew.
Why wouldn’t TGL set it up otherwise? Take your six hottest gamers and have them be the crew captains who draft their very own guys: Staff Tiger, Staff McIlroy, Staff Morikawa, and so forth.
Now we now have context. Staff Tiger has Justin Thomas on it as a result of Tiger drafted him as a substitute of Max Homa. Then what if the final man picked performs nicely? What if the primary man picked performs poorly?
In Season Two, the worst crew may draft a participant who isn’t competing in TGL—possibly somebody who had a breakout yr on Tour. Expertise comes out and in. There may be some intrigue over who retains their spot and who stays.
The way in which TGL set it up, there’s little purpose to root for a selected crew. It’s not region-specific as a result of the gamers don’t establish with that crew within the first place. It’s not draft-specific. We don’t know why it got here collectively that approach. Why ought to I root for Tom Kim on Tiger’s crew? The one purpose is that he’s on the crew for causes no one understands.
2. The gamers won’t have the character to make it entertaining
The premise of TGL is that we’ll have full entry to the gamers all through every match. They are going to be mic’d up and (hopefully) jawing forwards and backwards to make a extra casual and interactive ambiance.
That’s what we repeatedly see with YouTube golf as nice personalities shine via the digicam. Individuals are watching to be entertained by jokes as they (typically) take pleasure in good golf together with it.
However what about these gamers will make them entertaining?
All of those guys play critical golf for a residing. They prepare to be the perfect gamers on the planet. This isn’t Fats Perez cracking jokes on display—it’s golfers who’re programmed to pay attention and win.
Are any of those gamers humorous? Will it come via on display? It’s robust for skilled athletes to rapidly activate the appeal in entrance of a digicam for 2 hours and there apparently received’t be a lot in the best way of coloration commentating because the match is going on.
There must be some trash speak and lightheartedness to this sport. It’s not actual golf and there’s nothing significant at stake. We must be listening to from the gamers about what sort of shot they’re attempting to hit and get their instantaneous reactions. The gamers have to be much less robotic and extra expressive.
Having Scott Van Pelt and Marty Smith interviewing the gamers is promising—these guys are humorous and witty—however will the gamers match that vitality every week?
I’m skeptical about that which naturally leads me to the subsequent level.
3. TGL may very well be far more critical than essential
Look, TGL will discover success if it veers extra into the absurd and comedic. This could look completely nothing like Tour golf or exhibition golf. It must be the alternative of conventional.
There’s a construction to the competitors, which is ok, however we want greater than that. This must enterprise extra into Saturday Evening Reside territory—slapstick comedy with barbs going forwards and backwards. And when it’s not humorous, it must be guys attempting to drag off loopy pictures and reacting expressively.
Kevin Kisner is a full-time NBC announcer and he’s taking part in on this league. This isn’t a critical competitors and shouldn’t be handled like one.
The winner of this league doesn’t get something significant. It’s not necessary to win. That is purely for leisure.
It might be good to keep away from treating this like each shot issues. That is the place LIV obtained caught—it’s too just like regular golf. It’s only a worse model of the conventional Tour.
We must always watch the primary evening of TGL and agree that it’s wildly totally different from the staid Tour vibe. I’m cynical about them getting this proper, largely as a result of …
4. The individuals working this are part of the institution
Who’s behind TGL?
TGL is being produced by TMRW Sports activities, an organization based by Woods, McIlroy and NBC Sports activities government Mike McCarley. Nevertheless it’s additionally being being produced in partnership with the PGA Tour.
Woods and McIlroy are the frontmen however this largely comes all the way down to McCarley and others within the established golf world. McCarley led the NBC Sports activities golf efforts from 2011-2021 and initiatives just like the subscription-based GolfPass and tee-time service GolfNow.
Yeah, I don’t really feel nice about that.
NBC’s golf protection has been a complete catastrophe for a very long time. Golf Channel, owned by NBC, is in the bathroom— simply have a look at their lack of unique programming and downright terrible morning exhibits. I’m unsure who makes use of GolfPass except you repeatedly e-book tee occasions on GolfNow and wish reductions (in case you do subscribe, let me know why you prefer it).
Add within the Tour’s affect right here and I’m not precisely anticipating this to be “Contained in the NBA” from an execution standpoint. It in all probability received’t be almost as edgy or humorous because it must be.
If the individuals behind TGL have been complete outsiders to the sport, I might really feel quite a bit higher about how the telecast might be reimagined. I might additionally really feel higher concerning the TV product if the normal broadcast was charming, which is clearly not the case.
Apologies for being scarred by the previous few years however I’ve bother trusting any professional golf decision-maker at this level.
5. Is that this simply one other money redistribution mechanism?
Ah, in fact, we now have to speak about cash.
Is the TGL only a thinly veiled try to get the highest Tour gamers extra money? Is it only a comfort prize to pump up their wallets after they didn’t get the ludicrous sums provided by LIV?
Actually, I feel the reply is sure. At the least partially. The Tour has been frantically scrambling to ensure its expertise stays in-house and I’m assuming TGL is one other play to fulfill gamers financially.
That worries me on a pair fronts. Are the gamers right here to make a real entertaining product for the followers? Or are they right here to money checks and transfer on with their lives?
The gamers are going to be liable for whether or not this works or not. They need to activate the appeal and act like they’re taking part in with their buddies again house.
In the event that they aren’t invested in that, TGL may crash and burn.
Do you assume the TGL might be profitable? Let me know beneath within the feedback.
High Photograph Caption: Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy are driving forces behind TGL. (GETTY IMAGES/Christian Petersen)
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