Tiger’s TGL Golf Hits Intended Demographic in Debut

The premiere of Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy’s TGL Golf averaged 919,000 viewers via ESPN’s flagship network Tuesday night and found a younger audience than is typical for golf, as its organizers intended.

While the TGL launch did not feature either founder—among the better-known duffers who participated in the inaugural match were Xander Schauffele and Rickie Fowler—the two-hour telecast eclipsed its college basketball lead-in. Duke’s 76-47 dismantling of Pitt averaged 751,000 viewers.

ESPN did not disclose the number of additional impressions it gleaned through its eponymous streaming service. That said, the telecast peaked at 1.1 million viewers during the 9:15-9:30 p.m. ET segment, which is when the action officially began. (The first 15 minutes were reserved for interviews and table-setting.)

If the TGL format makes for some ill-advised comparisons with standard golf telecasts, Tuesday’s debut put up much bigger numbers than we’re used to seeing from another relatively new entity. In September, Jon Rahm’s victory in the closing round of LIV Golf’s championship tourney eked out just 89,000 viewers on the CW. The Saturday round fared a bit better, with an average draw of 134,000 linear-TV viewers.

More recently, the final round of the PGA Tour’s Tournament of Champions, aka The Sentry, averaged 461,000 viewers on the Golf Channel.

On the demo front, the TGL opener averaged 402,270 adults 18-49, which accounted for 44% of the total TV turnout. For a televised golf event, the audience skewed remarkably young; by way of comparison, last Sunday’s PGA round drew 80,454 adults under 50, with fans in the dollar demo making up just 17% of the overall deliveries.

While golf primarily attracts a male audience, the TGL premiere was even more of a dudefest than usual. Per Nielsen, 77% of the under-50 crowd were men, whereas 67% of the demo served up by the Sunday PGA broadcast was male.

As much as TGL organizers will have to buff out some rough patches before next Tuesday’s match—the interview with DJ Khaled that aired before anyone had so much as taken a practice swing was practically an invitation to switch off the set—the Jan. 14 telecast is expected to put up even bigger numbers, as Woods will be making his debut with the Jupiter Links crew. While watching the winner of 15 majors drill balls into a screen is an unusual proposition for the sport’s purists, virtual golf is better than no golf at all. Woods has played in a handful of tournaments since he was injured in a car crash in 2021, and he missed the cut in his last three majors.

McIlroy’s Boston Common Golf team will make their first appearance on Jan. 27. Their opponents: Woods and the Jupiter ensemble. ESPN will promote the fourth TGL telecast during its coverage of the College Football Playoff national championship game.

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