Why TGL has made a big mistake not sending Tiger Woods or Rory McIlroy out first

TGL has well and truly bogeyed the 1st by not sending out Tiger Woods or Rory McIlroy for the opening gameweek, writes GolfMagic Editor Andy Roberts.

Woods and McIlroy's new TGL, in partnership with TMRW Sports co-founder and CEO Mike McCarley and the PGA Tour, released its full regular season fixture list earlier this week. 

But much to the surprise of just about everyone, there was no sign of Woods' Jupiter Links GC or McIlroy's Boston Common GC for the very first gameweek on 7 January 2025. 

Instead that honour falls to New York GC made up of Xander Schauffele, Matt Fitzpatrick, Rickie Fowler and Cameron Young, and The Bay GC consisting Ludvig Aberg, Wyndham Clark, Shane Lowry and Min Woo Lee.

With all due respect to those eight players, who are all fantastic PGA Tour golfers might I add, especially Schauffele, this TGL lid lifter hardly gets pulses racing for the majority of fans. 

Related: 

• TGL team names, players 2025
• Golf fans stunned at ticket prices to attend TGL hosted by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy

I genuinely find it baffling why Woods or McIlroy have not been sent out first. 

It's even more perplexing than the price of a general admission ticket to attend TGL at $160. 

Grow. The. Game. They. Said. 

Why not come out swinging and well and truly announce TGL on the map with one of your two eternal needle-movers Woods or McIlroy in action on the opening night? 

After all, Woods and McIlroy were the two guys to bang their heads together and come up with TGL in the first place. And full credit to them. 

Woods will eventually be in action in the second gameweek on 14 January, but McIlroy won't be seen until gameweek four when he clashes with the 15-time major champion.

Perhaps it's a clever ploy from TGL and the PGA Tour to keep tails wagging until 27 January, and maybe they are so confident it's going to prove an instant hit with fans to keep them coming back for more every gameweek. 

Obviously Woods, 48, is still recovering from his sixth career back surgery, coming more than a year after his ankle surgery, so perhaps he has asked for an extra week on the sidelines, but I find that hard to believe given he's only got to bash a few balls into a screen. 

One positive is that I do fully expect Woods and McIlroy to be there in person at the SoFi Center on the opening night, especially given this is something of a home match for both of them in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. 

Woods and McIlroy's attendance has not been officially confirmed for 7 January, but you would like to think an element of pride is at stake here and they will want to be on the scene to give an introductory speech to the masses as to what TGL is all about. 

Plus given the amount of powerhouse owners and limited partners that have pumped money into each of the six teams, you would fully anticipate Woods and McIlroy will have regular involvement in all TGL gameweeks through to the Playoffs at the end of March. 

This is their project at the end of the day. 

TGL needs Woods and McIlroy to take this forwards, and the truth is nobody else lining up is going to do this for them. 

It's certainly going to take more than Min Woo Lee, a player who was dropped for three matches at the Presidents Cup, to let it cook. 

TGL will need, however, some big personalities to step forward to help Woods and McIlroy turn this into an overnight success. 

I'm not saying the professional game is full of dull characters, far from it, but this tech-infused golf league does offer a free hit for some of these guys to show a vastly different side to themselves away from the tense PGA Tour environment inside the ropes. 

We have seen glimpses of this on Netflix's Full Swing series, but we want to see more of it. 

There will need to be a ton of ribbing every gameweek and rivalries will need to be established quickly if TGL is going to capture the imagination of sports fans, in particular when Woods and McIlroy are not in action. 

Boring won't get this done. Fans will turn off. 

TGL was not only designed to provide a different form of entertainment and interaction, but also created to attract fans from different sports to help grow the game.  

Plenty of sports fans will have heard of the likes of Cameron Young and Shane Lowry, but a large percentage won't and that could be a big issue if they don't sense much about them.

Not even runaway World No.1 Scottie Scheffler is taking part in TGL, a player who has very much grown to fame in the sports world not only for his unbelievable performances on the golf course but also as a result of his shock arrest at the US PGA Championship.

No Scheffler is a big blow for TGL in my book. 

He had the chance to take part, but seemingly decided smashing balls into a screen on Monday and Tuesday nights was not the most sensible preparation for winning a third Green Jacket.

And if sports fans were wondering where Bryson DeChambeau is, a player who has very much changed perception in recent times, he was excluded from TGL since all LIV Golf players remain suspended by the PGA Tour. 

I do feel like if TGL is to move forwards long term, before I've seen a ball struck, then it will need all of the game's biggest superstars in action, otherwise really what is the point? 

No doubt that will be in the PGA Tour's discussions with the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) as they continue to negotiate a deal to combine their commercial operations.

My big fear is that if a number of interested punters aren't fully convinced about TGL in the first week, then it could lose momentum fast. 

It seemed to me initially there was a lot of buzz surrounding TGL when plans first emerged early last year, only for it to pushed back 12 months after its stadium roof caved in, and I consider that to be a huge blow for them. 

Not only did their stadium roof burst, but so too did the TGL bubble. 

That's certainly the vibe I get right now.

It's almost like a lot of people have simply forgotten about TGL and brushed it aside, especially given the PGA Tour and LIV Golf are seemingly moving ever nearer to some form of unification in the professional game.

Let's be honest, TGL was first put together by McIlroy, Woods and the PGA Tour in a bid to halt LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman in his tracks.

TGL needs to come out with a bang and for everyone to be talking about it at work on 8 January 2025 for all the right reasons. 

That's the main reason why I'm stumped as to why TGL have not sent out Woods and McIlroy in gameweek one. 

Just as we first saw with LIV Golf's first tournament two and half years ago at Centurion Club in England, everyone has an element of curiosity to at least peer in and give something new a shot. 

But I do feel like a large number of golf fans were either all in with LIV from the outset in 2022, or they were completely turned off. 

I'm not sure there was any in-between, even when the Saudi-bankrolled circuit did snap up Jon Rahm for a reported $600m last year.

That did help to some degree, but maybe not as much as LIV Golf or Rahm anticipated. 

So I very much believe TGL needs to give golf and general sports fans something to come back for every week if it's to be a success. 

Big personalities, characters, ribbing and rivalries will go some way to do that, but McIlroy and Woods will need to give this everything if it's to really take off. 

They are the sole reason the majority of fans will be tuning in for this in the first place. 

I certainly hope TGL does become an instant success, and I very much applaud McIlroy and Woods for thinking outside the box for bringing something new to our sport. 

The four-man team concept does follow the lead of LIV Golf in many ways, but taking players outside of the ropes and into a much more informal golf setting is hugely different and offers plenty of intrigue. 

TGL may have started off with a bogey by leaving Woods and McIlroy on the sidelines for the first week, and you could argue it's added another at the 2nd given the price of a general admission ticket, but the beauty of our sport is that it's never too late to recover. 

And if anyone knows that, it's Tiger Woods. 
 

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