On one of the few nights this week where absolutely no football of any kind was being played ESPN devoted the latter two-thirds of its precious prime time last night to the debut none of us had ever seen before. And even after watching it, I’m still not quite sure what it is.
USA TODAY’s Elizabeth Flores did her very best to try and set the stage in the preview she dropped yesterday:
The Tomorrow Golf League (TGL), led by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, is set to tee off after a highly anticipated year-long wait that was originally scheduled for launch in 2024, and the excitement is palpable.
The tech-infused TGL will debut with a matchup between the New York Golf Club and the Bay Golf Club at the SoFi Center. This venue, which spans 250,000 square feet, is a state-of-the-art technology center located on the campus of Palm Beach State College. The new facility can accommodate around 1,500 fans across three golf courses.
TGL’s format aims to, in Woods’ words, “bring a fresh, modern, and fast-paced twist to the game we all love.” It will include a shot clock, timeouts, and both team and individual match play.
So it’s golf on ESPN, which meant that my favorite fellow bald man Scott Van Pelt showed up, albeit remotely. A few other recognizable names participated, as the league/tour’s website crowed:
The Bay Golf Club’s Shane Lowry, with the honor of the first shot in TGL presented by SoFi history, forgot to bring a tee to the hitting area. Following a laugh and a deep breath, the Irishman launched his tee shot into the massive Screen, safely into the fairway, setting the inaugural season in motion Tuesday under the lights of SoFi Center in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
Lowry would go on to record the clinching point for The Bay Golf Club over New York Golf Club, besting Rickie Fowler in Singles at the par-5 10th to make it 7-1 and secure the victory for himself and teammates Wyndham Clark and Ludvig Åberg with five holes left. The remaining holes were played out for a final score of 9-2.
“It’s the most fun we’ve had playing golf,” Clark said.
I suppose since he was holding a club and hitting a dimpled ball a player like Clark would assert that’s what he was doing. But as a viewer, I’m humbly say he was doing something way different.
THE ATHLETIC’s Brody Miller and Hugh Kellenberger described it as succinctly as possible:
(T)he debut of a simulator golf league, broadcast live on ESPN with six PGA Tour stars hitting golf balls into a five-story screen before turning around and chipping and putting on a green inside the SoFi Center in Palm Beach, Fla.
I guess there’s elements of World Team Tennis, which reached its heyday in the 70s and 80s when top pros took advantage of the summer lull between Wimbledon and the U.S. Open to represent cities that they really didn’t have much allegiance to. Seeing the Bay Area’s Billie Jean King proudly wear the colors of the New York Sets (at one point, they were the most successful New York area franchise ending in -ets) or Ilie Nastase representing their “arch-rival” Boston Lobsters (whose logo was an oversized claw holding a wooden racquet) required some suspension of reality. Connecting the New York market this go-round with Xander Schauffele was just as strange–especially since, much like a lot of pro lacrosse these days, both BGC and NYGC were playing far from their “hometowns”.
But given the techno-pop feel and those massive screens, not to mention the high-voltage energy of the small but noisy crowd, it also looked like an e-sports event. I recall NASCAR trying that out during the early days of COVID and, sorry, desperate as I was for anything resembling sports I just couldn’t buy into it.
Sure, I’m definitely not the target demo, Miller and Kellenberger did report that their unscientific real time research indicated some degree of acceptance from those clearly younger and more open-minded than moi:
We both were getting texts from friends who were really into it, most of which fall into the “sports fans who love to watch live sports every night” category, with varying degrees of interest in golf. They were into it. That’s promising for TGL.
People love match-play golf, but the problem with match-play tournaments is a whole lot of lag time and/or difficulty keeping up. Something about the speedy, pressure-filled setup leads to the parts of match play we actually like (minus the actual stakes of a cup).
But as they both noted, it’s much more of a made-for-TV event than anything else, especially with the high voltage of its elite founders on hand to provide both commentary and explanations while Van Pelt did his best to give it a level of respect typically reserved for a Grand Slam, with a lot more of his late-night wit than those assignments typically allow.
ESPN did lead into it with a Cooper Flagg showcasing of the next NBA teenage star, and I suspect if a minimal number of them stuck around and if there were more of them proportionately than a typical golf tournament draws (not exactly a high bar), the network will be reasonably content. Compared to DEAL OR NO DEAL ISLAND, this was downright believable. And if that could get renewed, I’d give this at least a duffer’s chance of same.
Courage…