No Tiger, No Rory: TGL Playoffs Will Lack Some Star Power in Year 1

Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy won’t compete in the inaugural playoffs of TGL, as their teams are the only two that did not qualify for the postseason of the indoor golf league that the duo cofounded and launched this year.

Boston Common Golf (McIlroy’s team) and Jupiter Links Golf Club (Woods) were eliminated from playoff contention Monday night when New York Golf Club clinched the final spot by defeating Boston. Four of TGL’s six teams reached the playoffs: Los Angeles Golf Club, The Bay Golf Club, Atlanta Drive GC, and New York.

TGL’s single-elimination semifinal matches will take place March 17–18, before a best-of-three finals series March 24–25. 

Speed Bump

The absence of Woods and McIlroy is likely to negatively affect ratings as TGL crowns its first champion.

The most-watched match of the season has been the debut of Woods in Week 2, when ESPN drew 1 million viewers for Jupiter’s season-opening loss to Los Angeles. That marked a bump from the audience of 919,000 for TGL’s debut match featuring The Bay and New York.

However, TV ratings for McIlroy’s TGL debut, which came against Woods and Jupiter Links on Jan. 27, were not as high as expected. That match drew 864,000 viewers on ESPN.

With the playoff field set, Tuesday night’s Jupiter Links–Atlanta Drive match, the regular-season finale, ended up with no postseason implications.

TGL’s season-long ratings should be available later this week. While the numbers from this season have not been earth-shattering, many matches have drawn larger TV audiences than comparable windows on ESPN platforms in 2024, mostly college basketball games.