TGL viewing figures for opening night revealed

The gamble for Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy to sit out the first week of TGL appears to have paid off.

That’s certainly the evidence of the opening night’s viewing figures, anyway.

Woods and McIlroy’s new simulator golf league, based at the purpose-built SoFi Center arena in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, attracted an impressive average peak audience over a million viewers on primetime TV in the United States on Tuesday evening.

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The overall average for the opening match between The Bay Golf Club and New York was 919,000 viewers on ESPN, giving the venture a strong start in its push to bring golf to new audiences.

The two-hour live broadcasts are also being shown exclusively by Sky Sports in the UK through the night, but those viewing figures have not yet been released.

Woods and McIlroy spent time in the commentary studio on Tuesday’s opening night and will be pleased with a positive start by maintaining a consistently strong TV audience.

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That’s despite the fact the high-tech match was somewhat of a non-contest as the Bay Golf Club team led by Ludvig Aberg stormed to a 9-2 victory over New York’s Xander Schauffele, Matt Fitzpatrick and Rickie Fowler.

Organisers will now hope that the intrigue does not wane now that sports fans have become accustomed to the entirely unique format of competition and the initial element of curiosity has gone.

But TGL officials will certainly boosted next week by the likely appearance of Woods, as his Jupiter Links team play against a Los Angeles Golf Club outfit that includes Collin Morikawa, Sahith Theegala and Justin Rose.

Woods has not yet been confirmed to compete with line-ups announced on Friday, but he is anticipated to tee it up in the format that is far less demanding on the 49-year-old’s ailing body.