TGL Off To Strong Start After ESPN Viewing Figures Released

The first night of TGL action drew viewing figures that peaked at over one million says broadcaster ESPN

Ludvig Aberg celebrates holing a putt in TGL
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Paul Higham
By
published

The opening night of the new TGL tournament attracted a peak average audience over just over a million viewers on ESPN.

The overall average for the first night of Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy's new simulator golf league was 919,000 viewers in its primetime slot on ESPN, with over a million on average in the hour of 9:15-10:15pm ET.

That's despite what was in competitive terms not a great spectacle as The Bay Golf Club walked away with a comfortable 9-2 victory over New York Golf Club.

Curiosity in the unique hi-tech competition was still enough to get the event across the one million mark though, which organizers will no doubt be happy with.

The absolute peak for the event at the SoFi Center in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, saw 1.1 million viewers turning in between 9:15-9:30 pm.

Ludvig Aberg starred as he led his team also containing Wyndham Clark and Shane Lowry to beat Xander Schauffele, Matt Fitzpatrick and Rickie Fowler in the innovative 15-hole match.

And TGL officials will hope for even better for the second match of the competition next Tuesday, as Woods' Jupiter Links team will enter the fray facing the Los Angeles Golf Club of Collin Morikawa, Sahith Theegala, Tommy Fleetwood, and Justin Rose.

Player lineups for the match will be announced on Friday as only three of the four compete each week - but Woods will surely tee it up for his side's first outing.

ESPN and ESPN+ will air and stream all 15 regular season matches as well as the playoffs, which conclude with the finals taking place March 23-25.

Paul Higham
Paul Higham
Contributor

Paul Higham is a sports journalist with over 20 years of experience in covering most major sporting events for both Sky Sports and BBC Sport. He is currently freelance and covers the golf majors on the BBC Sport website.  Highlights over the years include covering that epic Monday finish in the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor and watching Rory McIlroy produce one of the most dominant Major wins at the 2011 US Open at Congressional. He also writes betting previews and still feels strangely proud of backing Danny Willett when he won the Masters in 2016 - Willett also praised his putting stroke during a media event before the Open at Hoylake. Favourite interviews he's conducted have been with McIlroy, Paul McGinley, Thomas Bjorn, Rickie Fowler and the enigma that is Victor Dubuisson. A big fan of watching any golf from any tour, sadly he spends more time writing about golf than playing these days with two young children, and as a big fair weather golfer claims playing in shorts is worth at least five shots. Being from Liverpool he loves the likes of Hoylake, Birkdale and the stretch of tracks along England's Golf Coast, but would say his favourite courses played are Kingsbarns and Portrush. 

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