Check in every week for the unfiltered opinions of our writers and editors as they break down the hottest topics in the sport, and join the conversation by tweeting us at @golf_com. This week, we preview the first match and season of Tiger Woods’ TGL simulator league and discuss what the league needs to do to succeed.
The TGL simulator golf league finally launched Tuesday evening at the teched-out SoFi Center in South Florida. Did the entertainment value overdeliver or underdeliver on your expectations?
James Colgan, news and features editor (@jamescolgan26): I was neither over nor underwhelmed with the TGL’s launch night. In fact, I felt almost perfectly … whelmed. The telecast was interesting and somewhat dopamine-intensive, but it lost speed as it wore on. The competition was fast-moving relative to regular pro golf, but it ended in a blowout. The ratings were okay, but not terribly impressive. In other words, the jury is still out.
Dylan Dethier, senior writer (@dylan_dethier):I thought it was fun! Overdelivered, especially because I thought there was a chance that it could be reprehensibly bad. But the ball soaring on the screen was more fun than I expected and the pace — even in a blowout — ensured that you were never far away from something happening.
Josh Sens (@joshsens). I was prepared to detest it but only kinds disliked it, so in that sense it overdelivered. And enough of my friends and colleagues found it interesting that I suspect I’m not the best gauge. In the end, it reminded me of a jazz concert. The people who seemed to be having the most fun were the performers.
Now that we’ve seen the league in action, what’s one adjustment or improvement you would like to see implemented?
Colgan: On a broader level, would love to see a more definitive sense of seriousness (or lack thereof) from those involved. On a narrower level, shot data on every hole seems like a no-brainer.
Dethier: Specifically I need to be able to hear the players better. The music in the arena seems like a good time but sometimes muddied or drowned out the mic’d-up player interaction. There are a few things like that I hope they’ll keep evaluating as Season 1 rolls on. Also — we need a real hammer!
Sens: Dylan checked off two of my suggestions. A real hammer, and better acoustics. Needs less music and more crowd noise and more
audible player banter. On the broadcast front, enough with the breathless talk about how amazing it all is. Stop telling us it’s cool. Cut to the action and let us decide whether it is or not.
Tiger Woods will make his TGL debut this Tuesday, playing alongside his Jupiter Links teammates Max Homa and Kevin Kisner. (Woods’ squad will play Los Angeles GC’s Justin Rose, Collin Morikawa and Sahith Theegala.) With the walking element of golf largely eliminated in TGL, what are your expectations for how Woods will perform, and how much can we tell about the state of his swing/game from a simulated form of the sport?
Colgan: I think Tiger will be great competitively. I think we’ll be able to learn a lot about his golf swing. But I don’t think we’ll learn much about the all-important question: how his golf swing will wear over 72 holes. Still, it’s better than nothing!
Dethier: It’s still sort of golf but the environment makes it so, so, so different. I think we’ll see Tiger, and that’s reason enough to celebrate. We’ll see some ball-speed numbers and we’ll get a glimpse of his short game but whatever we extrapolate from there will be a reach.
Sens I expect him to excel at this format. But I don’t see how it tells us anything we don’t already know. Tiger can still generate speed and hit a lot of shots. Whether he can be relevant at the highest level is not something we’ll learn from this.
TV ratings for the debut match were relatively strong, with ESPN drawing an average of 919,000 viewers for the two-hour telecast. With Tiger playing in Week 2, presumably TGL will attract another healthy audience. What does TGL most need to get right for viewers to come back for Week 3 and beyond?
Colgan: Eh. I don’t know if there’s a clear answer to this. I think at the simplest level, sports telecasts need to give viewers consistent action and stakes. The TGL succeeds at the first pillar, but I’m not sure about the second, and I’m not sure there’s all that much that can be done to give stakes. But maybe I’m just being a hater.
Dethier: Drama. We need drama. There’s potential for some tight-match chippiness in close quarters around the tee or the green, especially when it comes to the hammer. Pettiness could carry the day. But the fun part of this question is I truly have no idea the answer. Will I be interested in watching come week 7? TBD.
Sens: No doubt TGL checks a lot of entertainment boxes. Star athletes. A skilled broadcast team. A novel format. Cool technology and visuals. What it lacks is a sense that anything real is at stake, other than the time and money that a lot of people have invested in it. I’m not sure how you generate the sense that it matters. The money is not a difference-maker for these guys. Winning doesn’t exempt them into anything. It will be hard to care in the long run if the only thing that Tiger, Rory and. Co seem to be playing for is the viability of a new televised product.
In the wake of his recent LIV Golf dismissal, former Fireball Eugenio Chacarra gave the league a less-than-ringing endorsement. In an interview with the Flushing It podcast, Chacarra — a 24-year-old Spaniard who played three seasons on LIV after starring at Oklahoma State — said that while he was grateful for the money he made (more than $16 million in earnings over three seasons, excluding his signing bonus), the LIV experience left him wanting in other ways. “I see what it’s like to win on the PGA Tour and how your life changes,” Chacarra said. “How you get major access and ranking points. On LIV, nothing changes, there is only money. It doesn’t matter if you finish 30th or first, only money. I’m not a guy who wants more money. What will change my life is playing in Hawaii and qualifying for the majors, qualifying for the Masters, the Ryder Cup.” Chacarra added that LIV “promised OWGR and majors. But it didn’t happen. I trusted them.” What do you make of Chacarra’s gripes?
Colgan: Every person in professional golf should have to look at the Tim Robinson “we’re all trying to find the guy who did this” meme in the 15 minutes before speaking to the press, if only to ensure fewer comments like this one see the light of day.
Dethier: Two things can be true at once: One, it’s worth considering the source — Chacarra’s team appeared willing to move on from him and it’s not clear how much interest from around the league there was to snap him up. But two, Chacarra is one of the first ex-LIV players to verbalize what so many of LIV’s detractors have been shouting from the rooftops: that despite the money, the entire operation isn’t quite working. I think it’s a pretty jarring testimony for LIV, even though you should read it with a grain of salt.
Sens: “I am not a guy who wants more money.” After cashing in on a LIV deal, I guess he’s not. Now he’s a guy who says he learned something pretty much everyone knew all along.
The PGA Tour’s first swing of 2025 — Hawaii — is behind us. With two events in the books, what has most caught your attention or surprised you?
Colgan: How much I enjoyed following golf now that it’s not happening 52 weeks out of the year. Still, things will be more fun once Rory comes back stateside and Spieth/Scottie return from injuries.
Dethier: Hideki has one of the most underrated careers of any modern pro. Also, one guy who’s playing well? This Keegan Bradley fella. The Ryder Cup player-captain thing could really get legs.
Sens: I hadn’t had a chance to see much of Harry Hall prior to this month. He looks like he’ll make a worthy U.S. adversary in the Ryder Cup.
