TGL went live last week after a lot of hype, a collaposed dome and after a few more LIV defections (Tyrrell Hatton was once upon a time part of Boston Common but ditched the TGL for LIV and Jon Rahm's Legion XIII) so here are my first thoughts.
It looks like a lot of fun and a lot of people watched. An average of 919,000 watched on ESPN with more tuning in this side of the Atlantic on Sky Sports.
Unlike a regular golf tournament things moved quickly. I'm writing this the Monday after the Sony Open, which was dreadfully slow, so I can see how passive sports fans could watch this and get interested, will it create more golf fans? We'll see... I have my doubts.
The first match saw The Bay Golf Club (Shane Lowry, Wyndham Clark, and Ludvig Åberg) taking on the New York Golf Club (Xander Schauffele, Rickie Fowler, and Matt Fitzpatrick). It wasn’t even close—The Bay crushed it with a 9-2 win. The game split into a team-based “Triples” format and head-to-head “Singles” matchups was a cool way to keep things fresh and engaging.
The craic between teammates, particularly on Bay Golf Club, was high. I’m a little worried that some weeks will be more boring than others, just because some golfers are more boring than others, but that’s the risk with personality driven content.
But for me it is way better than the forced banter we’ve been recently subjected to in The Showdown or any of the made for tv 'The Match' events.
The technology is class! The massive screen is impressive and the rotating green that changes undulations really added to the competitive but not serious tone of the whole event. Plus, the “Hammer” rule, where teams can double the stakes on a hole, added a fun layer of strategy.
Like anything new there are some negatives, most of these are similar issues we saw when LIV first started.
Firstly, stop inviting DJ Khaled to these things. The heavy focus on celebrity-style player intros and mid-game interviews felt like it was trying a bit too hard to make golf “cool.” It’s not a bad idea, but it came off as forced.
From watching on tv, the fan atmosphere felt pretty poor. I got the sense the crowd was just full of corporate partners rather than actual golf fans.
I think they could add a gimme ring around the hole to speed up chipping and putting a bit. We didn’t see a golf shot for the first 15 minutes of the broadcast so I think it could be shortened to a really good 90 minute broadcast instead of the 2 hours it currently is.
It’ll only get better from here, the beauty of TGL being indoors is they can try something quickly and if it doesn’t work, then drop it.
The teams will earn fans and rivalries will build, but the tone needs to remain competitive and not serious. TGL might need to iron out a few wrinkles, but it’s already proving it can be an exciting new way to experience golf. If they keep refining the formula, this could be something special.
댓글