Tiger-Rory showdown fails to bring TGL big ratings boost

Field Level Media|published: Wed 29th January, 15:22 2025

Tiger Woods, center, and Tom Kim, left, of Jupiter Links GC enjoy their match against Keegan Bradley, Rory McIlroy and Adam Scott of Boston Common during a TGL match against Boston Common at the SoFi Center on January 27, 2025, in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

The TGL strategically scheduled Rory McIlroy's TGL debut match to come against co-founder Tiger Woods, and while Monday night's showdown featured plenty of drama, it failed to produce a big ratings boost for the new league.

ESPN drew an average of 864,000 viewers for the overtime victory by Woods' Jupiter Links Golf Club over the McIlroy-led Boston Common. While that was a boost from the 682,000 viewers last week, it was down from the 919,000 who tuned into the league's debut match and the slightly more than 1 million who watched Woods' first match in Week 2.

The TGL is now averaging 874,000 viewers through its first four weeks, which still is far outpacing those for PGA Tour events so far this year. And Monday night's match did peak at 1.1 million during the league's first overtime, according to Front Office Sports.

Woods' first two matches have averaged 932,000 viewers. The two without his team involved have averaged 800,500, although that does include the league's debut match for which Woods and McIlroy were on-hand.

The regular season runs for 15 weeks and will be followed by a two-show finale March 24-25.

The TGL was jointly founded by Woods and McIlroy with TV sports executive Mike McCarley, and Monday was the first time the two superstars appeared together.

--Field Level Media