TGL debut draws nearly 1M viewers, tops LIV ratings

This week's debut of the TGL indoor golf league drew nearly a million viewers on ESPN, according to Nielsen numbers reported Thursday by Front Office Sports.

Even though league co-founders Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy were not in action, Tuesday night's broadcast attracted an average of 919,000 viewers during the 9-11 p.m. ET time slot.

To put that in perspective, that is a larger audience than any LIV Golf broadcast on The CW in 2023 and 2024, and also larger than last week's PGA Tour season opener (The Sentry) on the Golf Channel and NBC, according to Sports Media Watch.

During the same time window last year on ESPN, a Duke-Pittsburgh men's college basketball game drew 717,000 viewers.

Tuesday night's initial 15-hole TGL match saw The Bay Golf Club defeat New York Golf Club 9-2 at the SoFi Center in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.

Woods and McIlroy both attended the match and joined ESPN play-by-play announcer Matt Barrie in the booth.

The first match in the six-team TGL that features Woods will happen when his Jupiter Links Golf Club takes on Los Angeles Golf Club on Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN. McIlroy's Boston Common Golf will face Woods' team on Jan. 27.

The 15-match regular season runs through March 4, followed by the playoffs later that month.

--Field Level Media