TV Review: TGL’s Big Debut Was Weird, But in the Most Exciting Way

In a “lab for what golf is and what it can become,” Kyle Koster writes that Tiger and Rory's creation might just be a hit if the players continue to buy in.

ESPN announcer Matt Barrie, Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy react to a putt made during the inaugural TGL match at SoFi Center. / GREG LOVETT/PALM BEACH POST / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

When the oral history of TGL’s first broadcast is eventually written, perhaps we’ll get some honesty from Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy about their nerves. Because 20 minutes into ESPN’s presentation of the inaugural TGL match, there was no reason to think that this was the future of golf. Prolonged exposition about the format and rules, combined with remote interviews with genuinely nervous players created a truly unique and not particularly settling experience. Live sports rights are the white whale in an increasingly splintered entertainment ecosystem—and usually low-risk. But a viewer could be forgiven if they carried some skepticism and secondhand nervousness that despite being too big to fail, the TGL experiment could flop.

It’s hard to remember two hours of sports television that felt like TGL’s first foray. For a while it felt like an episode of Saturday Night Live where the possibility of things going off the rails was very real. It’s as though everyone involved in the night had an inner voice constantly asking, “Hey, how is this going?”

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Maybe this is when you tuned out. You gave it a chance and were not immediately hooked. No judgment there. There's no way around it—watching indoor golf is weird. Sports usually innovate by changing the variation of a general theme. TGL is changing the song entirely. Their attempt to launch into a new era came complete with a state-of-the-art complex to serve as a soundstage and lab for what golf is now and what it can become. The endeavor is built to serve a 2025 attention span and asking a consumer to meet the product halfway, to stop worrying and just have fun is a more significant hurdle than it may have been a few years ago.

Those who fought through this initial resistance, though, were richly rewarded with a right-brain epiphany: TGL does not have to be the future of golf. It simply has to be part of the future of the golf. After players and broadcasters and fans allowed themselves to have fun, it became crystal clear that it can be a major part.

TGL can be a blast for viewers. An entirely new territory for willing players to explore with their career. An honest-to-goodness coup for both the league and ESPN. A blueprint for Woods to prolong his status as one of our biggest active sports stars. While everyone was trying to figure out what exactly this is, he and McIlroy just figured out a way to get themselves and their made-for-television product in front of as many eyeballs as possible in primetime. Tuesday night was the culmination of a long process but it marked the starting line, not the finish tape.

For ESPN it presents an opportunity to build something from the ground up. It’s been far too long since the network last tried something so counterculture. Completely reimagining one of the oldest sports in the world with no safety net and no guarantees that it’s a giant mistake is reminiscent of something they would have tried 20 years ago. There was an ESPN2 vibe to the proceedings, back when anchors were wearing leather jackets and the chyrons were all lowercase. Since getting back into the golf business the network has provided sturdy coverage of major championships and been able to match the big moments. A sneaky deep and diversified roster of talent was on display with Scott Van Pelt adding gravitas, Marty Smith being a man of the people and Matthew Barrie making it all make sense even if sometimes it was hard to make sense of it.

Sure, there are some things to fix going forward. There’s absolutely no reason to have a 20-minute intermission. It was immediately clear how much DJ Khaled is too much DJ Khaled and yet they pushed far beyond that point. Players will be more comfortable participating and will be more entertaining in the coming weeks. They too had to see what this all was before realizing that they are more responsible for making this fun than when they tee it off without a ceiling.

Going into the night there was a feeling that the technology would be the star when it’s much simpler than that. The stars are the stars. What they either do or don’t want to do with this opportunity will determine if TGL is a fleeting oddity or a major sports league and a long-awaited balm for a game that's been through hell and back the last two years and needs a win badly. TGL is what the players make of it as much as it is what the viewers make of it. Someone tuning in who is not willing to enjoy it on its own terms isn’t going to have fun.

Take it from someone who was very worried about this going awry and this whole gambit fizzling in spectacular fashion but found himself checking out Jupiter Links GC gear by Hole 12. If you squint and focus hard enough you can see this becoming a major hit. You can see a fast-track to growing the game and introducing new fans to all the disparate personalities in golf. You can see how the explosion of digital golf content—from YouTube personalities to Jersey Jerry trying for hours to get a hole-in-one was embraced instead of feared. You can see a rotating synthetic green serving as a stage in an atmosphere that is reminiscent of those great primetime U.S. Open tennis matches.

Night one was not without trepidation and mild discomfort. All of that would be smartly forgotten because there doesn't have to be another debut. All these questions about the future of golf will be answered by two parties. The audience will have to be there and it will have to grow. But that will be dictated by the players. Is this where they want the sport to go and how badly do they want it to go there?

Before dismissing the idea—or dropping to the nearest fainting couch to lament potentially losing the natural beauty of traditional broadcasts—consider the potential. Six teams can turn into 16. More of these facilities can be built. Viewing habits are constantly changing. Golf is at a consequential crossroads and the fear of TGL being a bad product should subside, leaving a long list of positives.

The next time we see this league Tiger Woods will be playing. To underestimate people’s interest in watching him compete in an expedient and digestible manner would be a mistake. One could argue that he and McIlroy already notched their first TGL win, even if they had to grind it out a bit. For all the bells and whistles and space-age tech the formula for this new entity is as old as time. Put a bunch of competitive athletes together to compete and make it interesting.

Not a single soul had any idea how Tuesday night would go and not a single soul can confidently say if it was a watershed event or a fleeting fancy. Yet the very possibility that this could be the beginning of something special that adds richly to the golf fan’s plate makes it exciting.

There was a lot to see and a lot to miss. If you did tap out, it might be worth checking back in.

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