TGL winners, losers: What worked and what didn't during inaugural season

Yahoo

26-03-2025

There are three types of sports fans out there. Those who enjoy the TGL, those who don't and those who have never heard of it.
TGL, or Tomorrow's Golf League, just wrapped up its inaugural season with Atlanta Drive GC capturing the first SoFi Cup. The indoor golf league, founded in part by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, combines simulator play with live-action chipping and putting. Players tee off and take fairway shots that are tracked and launched into a simulator environment before they head to a rotating green that adjusts slopes based on the hole.
The first season was, in large part, a mixed bag. There were issues with the technology as well as a midseason rule change, but there was also a great deal of entertainment and drama to watch.
Let's break down the winners and losers of TGL's inaugural season:
The ESPN broadcast never found its identity and was, at times, hard to watch. That had nothing to do with the product, but instead, the issues lay with the often cringy and forced input from play-by-play man Matt Barrie and in-arena reporter Marty Smith.
Monday's Match 1 of the Finals was a prime example. Smith gave us a candidate for awkward interview of the year when he asked New York Golf Club's Matt Fitzpatrick, who was a healthy scratch, 'What is more nerve-wracking, watching these guys try to win a championship or winning a major championship?'
Seriously, Marty? We hope you were kidding. Let's not pretend TGL is anything like the U.S. Open, which Fitzpatrick won in 2022. Yes, TGL is competitive and there is money at stake but it's more show and entertainment than serious sporting fare — and that's something we all need to understand for the product to work. ESPN trying to convince the audience that it's watching serious golf only works to alienate those who know the difference.
OK, but what worked on the broadcast? Hot mics. It was great to listen live to players' reactions to shots as well as real-time discussion of Hammer strategy, etc. Let's keep that going in 2026.
If you don't see the potential in the TGL product, you either don't like golf or don't like fun. Granted there were a lot of issues in the inaugural season, but the ceiling for TGL is undoubtedly high. They found an effective way to integrate technology with live action, creating a hybrid sport with seemingly limitless possibilities.
I mean, we're hitting golf balls over pools of lava here. It's not The Masters, and it's not supposed to be. It's fun and whimsical but still competitive and dramatic. The players who embraced the uniqueness of the product and weren't afraid to put on a show shone brightly.
TGL needs to lean more into the fun in 2026. Embrace it!
The overtime format is not good. A closest-to-the-pin contest to determine a match is not nearly exciting enough. TGL (and ESPN) will defend this by saying it is their version of penalty kicks in soccer, but that doesn't ring true. If they really wanted to go that route, we should be putting.
My solution: If a match is tied after 15 holes, have the rotating green create random configurations ― from among the holes they previously played in the match ― for players to attempt 20-foot putts in a shootout format. Teams choose the order of putters. Player 1 from Team 1 putts, then Player 1 from Team 2. All three players putt in a three-round shootout — or putt-out, if you will. If it is still tied after all three players have putted, teams can then send whichever player(s) they want until a winner is decided (think T.J. Oshie at the Sochi Olympics).
Why is this better? The match should end with either a ball going in the hole or missing the hole. It's that simple. It's the same dramatic recipe that works for penalty kicks in soccer and shootouts in hockey.
The midseason change to the Hammer rule was a huge win for TGL. For those who aren't familiar, each team starts a match with three Hammers. A team can throw a Hammer before any shot, as long as the opposing player isn't already standing over the ball. The opposing team then has a choice. If they accept the Hammer, the hole is worth 2 points instead of 1. If they decline, the hole is then conceded to the Hammer-throwing team and 1 point is awarded. If a Hammer is thrown before an opening tee shot, it must be accepted.
This injects a metric ton of strategy and gamesmanship into the match, and it was interesting to see some dueling philosophies on how Hammers should be deployed. Some teams opted to use them when in an overwhelmingly favorable position, such as after hitting a tee shot within 5 feet of the hole while their opponent found the greenside bunker.
Others thought this was a waste since it would typically result in a declined Hammer and only 1 point awarded when the Hammer-throwing team would have almost certainly won the hole anyway. Another strategy was saving Hammers for a potential comeback if a team was trailing by multiple points late in the match. Another was throwing a Hammer before an opponent's high-stress put for added pressure.
Whichever strategy you like best, there's no denying it spices up the match.
There is still one major issue with the Hammer. While I generally like the constant presence of strategy and the ability to keep a match within reach, there is one fatal flaw with the system.
As a viewer, a team declining the Hammer is the absolute worst. It can be understandable from a strategy perspective, but it feels so deflating when a team concedes the hole after a Hammer is thrown. You can feel the air leave the arena. It is anticlimactic and frankly disappointing. We wanted to see what would happen! We need more action and drama, not less.
A possible solution: Make it so teams cannot decline Hammers, but with a scoring shift. If the Hammer-throwing team wins the hole, they get 2 points. But if the other team wins, they "Flip the Hammer" and get 3 points. The only downside here is the possibility of teams using their Hammers to snowball leads on their opponent, who can't decline them. In that case, let's make pre-tee shot Hammers worth 3 points regardless, to keep comeback hopes alive.
I say some of them because TGL brought out the excited side in some guys (Billy Horschel, Tom Kim) and the seemingly uninterested in others (Lucas Glover, Cameron Young). The product needs lively personalities to thrive. With all due respect to Patrick Cantlay ― he's actually my pick to win The Masters next month — the stoic guys just aren't bringing enough energy to the match.
We need more personalities like Justin Thomas, Shane Lowry and Min Woo Lee (aka Dr. Chipinski). They are clearly having a great time playing to the crowd and living and dying with every shot. If you're not fist-pumping a 30-foot putt, don't let the door hit you on the way out. Fist-pumping should be mandatory.
INCREDIBLE‼️ pic.twitter.com/0X7ojbTDMX
— TGL (@TGL) March 26, 2025
TGL is letting golf fans get a look at some entertaining personalities we typically don't see on the buttoned-up PGA Tour, and we need more of that.
It's a no-brainer for the TGL to add some LPGA players and other individuals whose personalities would gel with the product. Nelly Korda and Tiger Woods competing on the same putting green? That's worth the price of admission. Atlanta Drive owner Arthur Blank has said they're open to adding top female players, which is good. It's the perfect environment for cross-gender competition.
And then there's the LIV question. Let's be honest: Bryson DeChambeau would be perfect for TGL. He's great on camera and, if we're telling the truth, TGL really isn't that different from YouTube golf. TGL needs players who are there to have a good time and be entertaining while playing golf. That's DeChambeau to a tee. Have things smoothed enough between LIV and the PGA Tour to make this happen?
The good news: TGL expansion is happening sooner rather than later, according to a report from The Palm Beach Post. Let's do it!
Teams routinely concede putts within 10 feet to their opponent. That needs to stop. The pace of play is good enough to let them putt it out.
Genuine question: Can we put the players on an incline or decline depending on where they're playing the ball? If the tee shot winds up on a downhill lie, can we manipulate the in-arena shot area to match the slope so the player is now hitting the second shot below their feet?
On that note, why don't we have wind factors that change from hole to hole (for simulator shots)? Maybe it's the Wii Sports aficionado in me, but this seems like a pretty easy addition that would add some difficulty.
More holes will almost certainly be added for 2026, which is good. While I was generally in favor of how the holes were configured, we lacked variety down the stretch this season.
The TGL Final should be one match, not a best-of-three played over multiple days. We don't need to drag it out. Give us 15 holes for the championship and call it a season.
A final note on the broadcast: Let's get Jupiter Links' Kevin Kisner out of the arena and into the booth. His performances at SoFi Center this season were, to put it nicely, pedestrian. But he was great on the hot mic and would help the broadcast as an analyst who understands what TGL is trying to do.
This is a smaller thing, but team identities feel awkward when all the matches are played at the same venue in Florida. I understand the limitations — and I'm sure this was done to attract investors and team owners ― but I can't help but feel the "Boston vs. New York" angles feel disingenuous.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: TGL winners, losers: How did Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy league do?