Whether you are one of the many fans of TGL or you’re reluctant to buy into the new-age concept of simulator golf in an indoor arena, it’s hard to deny that the new league saved its best for last.
If the TGL had everything but its instant classic moment, it got that Tuesday night when Billy Horschel – somehow it seemed fitting that it was the hyper-effusive Horschel – holed a twisting downhill putt to win the SoFi Cup for his Atlanta Drive team.
Maybe it wasn’t Bryson DeChambeau making par from a fairway bunker to win the U.S. Open but it was a moment that put a scream-and-shout bow on the inaugural season of what felt like a massive experiment when it began in January.
“It’s completely exceeded my expectations,” said Justin Thomas, a member of the championship team with Patrick Cantlay, Lucas Glover and Horschel.
TGL was devised to expand boundaries, play off personalities as much as performance and – all together now – grow the game.
By those measures, the first season of the tech-driven, team-first, made-for-television creation succeeded.
It’s not for everyone but it never figured to be. What TGL demonstrated was that golf can be different, especially when it embraces innovation without impeding the foundational concept of true tournament golf.
The television ratings suggest the visionaries behind TGL – executive Mike McCarley and two guys named Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy – are onto something. It was never meant to be Sunday afternoon at the Players Championship or have the magnetism of the Masters but it is an entertaining diversion on winter nights as the PGA Tour is gathering its momentum.
The biggest question going into this season may not have been how the public would react to this new shiny thing built around players hitting shots into a giant screen and playing on and around an artificial green that changes shape like Viktor Hovland changes coaches.
“Six months ago I didn’t know what to expect. … But overall the whole experience I think has just been really cool.” – Shane Lowry
It was whether the players would buy into something so different and potentially distracting. They did and it showed, even when Tiger’s Jupiter Links team played like a threesome from the local muni.
“Six months ago I didn’t know what to expect. … But overall the whole experience I think has just been really cool,” Shane Lowry said.
The technology was always going to be mesmerizing but the success of TGL hinges almost entirely on the players showing more than their skill. Whether it’s Horschel being Horschel, Thomas chatting the way he does or Tiger in tears laughing after seeing Kevin Kisner skull a shot, that’s the essential magic of TGL.
The competition began to matter more when the playoffs began but that never felt like the main reason to watch. The team thing works for TGL because the entire endeavor is built to be a television show, packaged to fit into a quickly moving two-hour window, and most of the holes have three guys playing alternate shot which is more team-like than adding up individual scores.
LIV Golf has tried to force the team concept into relevance but it hasn’t worked. It can’t feel good inside LIV’s offices to see TGL succeeding where LIV has not.
“But overall I think everybody has really enjoyed the format. It’s just been so different for us and so new, but everybody has got really behind it.” – Tommy Fleetwood
It will be interesting to see where TGL goes from here. The season is long enough and if it could be condensed by a couple of weeks that might be better even if that means doing more doubleheaders before the playoffs.
“I’m sure it will continue to evolve. I’m sure there’s different things that they can do with the conditions. I’m sure there will be new holes next time probably,” Tommy Fleetwood said.
“But overall I think everybody has really enjoyed the format. It’s just been so different for us and so new, but everybody has got really behind it.”
It has been suggested that each team have a hole or two created to recognize its supposed home base. There could be holes through Central Park or Times Square for New York Golf Club, something along the California coast for the Bay Golf Club and perhaps a hole through stopped traffic for the Atlanta Drive.
Adjusting the hammer rule midseason was a good move, adding more volatility and prompting more conversation among players. It was the plot twist on which the final match swung Tuesday night.
Keeping the stars engaged is essential and there is no reason – injuries aside – to think that Woods and McIlroy won’t play next year. Being based in Jupiter, Florida, where it seems almost every top player lives, made it easy for most of the players.
It could be geography that kept Texas-based Scottie Scheffler and Jordan Spieth out of the first season. They both have young families and probably didn’t want to make the commitment of going to Florida a handful of times for TGL but if there was a way to involve them going forward, it would be a nice boost.
Imagine listening to Spieth talk his way through a TGL match.
There is talk of adding teams and cities next year. A logical next step would be to bring LPGA players into the mix. Maybe it’s adding one female to each team or, even better, creating an LPGA team. It would be interesting to hear the chatter if it became a boys against girls competition.
One of the best things TGL did was not try too hard. The effort, ingenuity and investment were enormous but as the season unfolded there was a feeling that everyone was along for the ride.
TGL wanted to be different and it was.
All you needed was to see a grinning Patrick Cantlay wearing a blinged-out Dirty Birds necklace at the trophy presentation Tuesday night to see just how different.