Tiger Woods made his TGL debut on Tuesday night with Jupiter Links Golf Club. They got crushed by Los Angeles Golf Club 12-1 in their first match. The inaugural match between The Bay Golf Club and New York Golf Club a week before drew 919,000 viewers. Many expected that number to grow with Woods in the arena. TGL did see a ratings increase and snagged a surprising award on Tuesday night.

In their release on Wednesday, ESPN announced that TGL was the highest-rated sports program on cable on Tuesday night. Duke Basketball played a game right after TGL and Turner Sports had an NBA doubleheader. While those are usually ratings winners, none of those games have Tiger Woods involved.

The biggest sales point of TGL is Woods. He is part of TMRW Sports, which owns the league, and is the owner of his own Jupiter Links Golf Club. While his team was crushed on Tuesday, just watching him play golf is bait for sports fans. Week 1 benefitted from curiosity and Week 2 benefitted from Woods. Next week will be the biggest test yet for TGL.

The third match in TGL history pits Atlanta Drive GC against New York GC on Tuesday, January 21 at 7 p.m.

TGL must find selling points beyond Tiger Woods

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While they do have Tiger Woods in their league, TGL must find more selling points. No one is going to take the chase for the TGL Cup very seriously, but a competitive match would help drive viewers. Both matches have been blowouts but there were reportedly tests ensuring close matches were more likely.

The Atlanta Drive vs New York match does not have Tiger Woods or curiosity on its side. The biggest star is either Xander Schauffele or Justin Thomas, both two-time major champions. While they are big names in golf, they will not attract the casual sports fan. A close match will be vital to keeping fans glued to the TV and drumming up social media conversation.

The viral moment of Tuesday night was Kevin Kisner's bladed bunker shot that rattled off the flag. Woods had tears in his eyes he was laughing so hard, Max Homa took some digs on his teammates, and the clip has 2.1 million views on X. More moments like that will happen but competitive matches will be the big draw.

Tiger Woods is back in the TGL arena on Monday, January 27 against Rory McIlroy and Boston Common.