TGL’s greatest first-night success will also be the biggest challenge to its future

After over a year of hype and publicity, along with untold millions in investment and expenses, Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy’s arena golf league, the TGL, finally arrived Tuesday night on ESPN.

Polarizing is the first word that comes to mind after the two-hour inaugural match that saw Ludvig Aberg and The Bay Golf Club hammer (yes, that’s a TGL pun) New York Golf Club 9-2.

There was no shortage of opinions about the debut of Woods and McIlroy’s vision.

Some praised the fast pace, innovative technology, and laid-back atmosphere that allowed players to show more of their personalities than they do under tournament conditions. Others demanded someone take the idea behind a shed and snuff it out of existence before the 15-hole match concluded.

Therein lies the biggest win from TGL’s opening night. It’s something not easily replicable. It will also be the key to ensuring the league grows into what Woods and McIlroy envision and doesn’t just slowly fade into irrelevancy.

It made golf fans feel something.

At least for one night.

That’s powerful. It’s also scarcer than we’d like. Golf still has a handful of events — the majors, the Ryder Cup, the Solheim Cup, some big-time Tour events — that stir the soul. But there are plenty of weeks that golf fans are underwhelmed by vanilla course setups, watered-down fields and disappointing TV coverage.

All of which can lead to a feeling of pro-golf apathy.

But TGL? On Night 1, the brand-new league had golf fans flocking to their television sets to see something distinctly different.

It delivered on different, and that wasn’t for everyone. Half of my texts were from friends dismissing this as “not golf” or asking me: “Who is this for?” The other half were from people who found it fun, goofy, entertaining, and worth another watch.

On a Tuesday in January, three months from a return to Augusta National, golf fans got to be invested in and care about something. Not the 9-2 drubbing Bay Golf laid on New York GC. That’s irrelevant unless it leads to Steve Cohen taking some of the money he gave Juan Soto and sliding it Scottie Scheffler’s way to get NYGC on the right track.

But golf fans hadn’t had something they truly cared about since the final round of the 2024 Open, and the TGL, at least for one night, gave them that on an otherwise dead Tuesday in January.

Did you like Shane Lowry walking out to “Snap Yo’ Fingers” or Xander Schauffele hitting with DMX playing in the background? Maybe the different holes (some good, some very bad) piqued your interest. Perhaps you cackled at NBA referee Derrick Stafford getting involved. (Do we even need a ref for the shot clock? Doesn’t it just make a noise?)

You might have hated all of it. There are undoubtedly kinks for TGL to work out. It wasn’t perfect; start-ups on Day 1 never are. The broadcast has to get better. The DJ Khaled stuff needs to be ejected into the sun. And can we please give FedEx a real hammer if they are going to sponsor one of the game’s key components?

But the TGL, with Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy not playing, drove conversation and delivered excitement, intrigue, humor, and/or disgust on Night 1.

That’s a win.

The novelty could wear off after the first few matches. There’s a good chance that after Woods and McIlroy play their first matches, the shine will have worn off, and everyone will return to their regularly-scheduled programming until golf season truly heats up.

But if TGL wants to have staying power, it’ll need to find a way to continue making golf fans feel something. That doesn’t everybody has to like it. Nor does it mean it has to take itself too seriously. I’d argue it should do the opposite and lean into the absurdity and fun.

Whatever comes next, the league’s future success hinges on giving golf fans a reason to care — something they’ve been craving, but can’t always find.