The inaugural season of TGL is now complete after Atlanta Drive defeated New York in the best-of-three finale.
Billy Horschel made a crucial long putt on the penultimate hole, after throwing down the hammer, to seal the title and the $9m first prize for his four-man Georgia squad.
The debut campaign produced a number of viral moments, including when Tiger Woods got his number wrong by 100 yards, and TV ratings on ESPN appear to have been positive. The two-hour limit has been seen as a good window for 15-holes of golf and there are plenty of positives to take.
We also noticed things that pro golf should copy from TGL, like the shot clock and the cool SmartPin, which has a camera embedded.
So, with the first season of the innovative, virtual golf league now in the books, what are our takeaways, and questions?
Will there be a season 2?
This seems like a foregone conclusion, but there hasn't been an official announcement to confirm if a season 2 of TGL is on the cards.
However, with the money involved and big business heads and celebrities backing the teams, we can be fairly safe in predicting that the virtual league will be back next year.
Jeff Neubarth, who is a TGL producer, recently told the Golf Channel Podcast that he is planning for a second year.
“It’s really funny because I started an Apple note probably in October called ‘season two wishlist’. I am so deep into that note right now that I would probably need an entire off-season just to read it and re-prioritise. There are so many things that are opportunities for us to do to get better,” Neubarth said.
TMRW Sports founder Mike McCarley has also been quoted talking about the potential for a West Coast stadium and other expansion plans.
It certainly seems like TGL is here to stay.
Scheduling
The scheduling certainly had some issues in this inaugural season, with some matches taking place on Mondays, some on Tuesdays and some days having up to three separate games.
A match takes two-hours so three two-hour matches back-to-back-to-back was certainly a bit much, especially as we'd all been watching 'real' golf for four consecutive days leading up to TGL.
I have to question that part of the schedule and wonder if it can be made more consistent in season 2.
It ran from January to March this year, which was perhaps a little long. The Players Championship had an epic finish, and it felt a little weird to go from watching the PGA Tour signature event on Sunday and then TGL the very next day. I'm sure organizers will be wanting to get the season done before TPC Sawgrass next year.
Roster
The first rosters were set back in 2023 to get ready for the January 2024 start, before the year delay was needed after damage to the arena.
It's unclear if players have been signed to their teams on multi-year deals or if they need to be re-signed. There were certainly some big PGA Tour names missing from the TGL rosters this year, while some of its current crop have lost form and there are, as always, some new up-and-coming players.
For next year it seems like Kevin Kisner might be one to drop out, especially with his role in the NBC Sports golf team, and some younger players like Nick Dunlap, Akshay Bhatia and Luke Clanton might be worth signing up.
Tiger Woods has just undergone achilles surgery so whether he continues to play, or just remains invested in Jupiter Links, is to be seen.
We could even see another couple of teams added at some point, too.
LIV Golf
TGL is somewhat of a rival to LIV Golf, with both golf leagues featuring four-man teams that are set up as franchises.
If a deal gets done between the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, the TGL bosses will surely want the likes of Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson and Jon Rahm included. Rahm was already signed up to TGL before moving to LIV Golf.
Then there's the question of whether entire LIV Golf teams are absorbed into the league... There could even be a LIV Golf-TGL championship perhaps. I'm sure there's lots of ideas floating around.
