The new circuit initiated by Tiger Woods and Rory McILroy officially ended his first season. This alternative tour has the ambition to attract an audience of a new kind. Did he convince and will he settle on the duration? Analysis of a format that makes a lot of talk in the golf world.
Teasing had lasted more than a year. In January 2024, the launch of the TGL, the League supposed to revolutionize the world golf course, was postponed to the following season because of the collapse of the Sofi Center which was to welcome it. 12 months later, hostilities are launched …
Let us recall some rules, 6 teams made up of 3 PGA Tour players Facked in a format of 9 holes played in triple (each player strikes the ball alternately) and 6 holes played in matchplay. Each hole won is a point. A team has the possibility of using a Hammer which doubles the points in the event of a victory on a hole. The winning team is the one that obtains the most points at the end of the game.
An impressive technology
More than the original game formula, it is the technology implemented around the event that is truly revolutionary. The Sofi Center of Palm Garden in Florida was specially designed to accommodate this TGL. A 20 × 15 meter giant screen Was installed and the courses played were mounted from scratch by architects, with never seen conditions (such as lava in certain penalty areas). A real green, meanwhile, was installed to play approaches and putts as on real golf courses. Supported by 600 cylinders, this modular green “endlessly Is surrounded by bunkers.
Each player has 40 seconds to hit his blow, to avoid the slow game and allow a game to end in 2 hours of play. All in front of an audience of 1,500 people.
Constant interactions
During classic PGA Tour tournaments, the microphones are increasingly capturing discussions between caddies and their players. Journalists no longer hesitate to interview players between two holes, which was still inconceivable a few years ago. The TGL, aware that this type of moments captured by the cameras appeal to the public, decided to push these interactions to the maximum by equipping microphone playerswhich allows them to hear them speak together and discover personality traits that we did not know them. Of course, in a relaxed atmosphere like the amused reactions following the ‘Shank’ by Kevin Kisner in a bunker, or more recently, following the performance of a Tom Kim taking himself for Leonardo Di Caprio in Titanic, before Céline Dion present in the stands.
Golf transformed into “American show” seems to bear fruit, which the figures confirms. Thus, the average age of a viewer on the PGA Tour is 63 years, when he fell at 51 during the first TGL meetings with good audiences.
What about the future?
The TGL is today only in its infancy. This first edition made it possible to attract curious spectators and to try to respond to the challenges imposed by the young generations who no longer support long formatswhatever the sport. But the hardest thing remains to be done: confirm.
Finally, another question arises. Will players be ready to give their time and energy for a friendly competition, while the calendar is already overloaded? This “competition” takes place from January to March, when the season begins on the PGA Tour in the western part of the United States, while the Sofi Center is in the east part. The energy spent to move to Florida, to which is added the jet lag, could discourage more than one. But to this question, as often, the answer will be provided by money rewarding the participants, which ultimately risks having an influence on the released atmosphere known during this edition. We can’t have everything …
By Thibault Balthazar
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