Tiger Woods has built a career on being the first to do things. His 12-shot Masters win, made in Sunday red-and-black an iconic look, and single-handedly turned golf into a sport for kids. Lately, his brainchild, TGL is on a rollercoaster ride, but so is PGA. So is LIV. On this journey, Woods and Rory McIlroy really brought the horizons closer for their arena-style game and whenever two upgraded formats collide, there’s always the question of who got there first.

After his TGL team’s match, Tiger Woods hailed the league for bringing golf into primetime and breaking new ground. “The fact that we’re able to play on ESPN and during primetime, we don’t get a chance to do that very often,” he said. He went on to highlight TGL’s late-night matches, running from “9:00 to 11:00,” adding, “We haven’t had golf at those times because we don’t really have that with our daylight schedule.”

Great point, Tiger. Except… LIV Golf already did this months ago—outdoors, under massive floodlights, on a real course. LIV Golf’s event in Riyadh this year wasn’t just a gimmick; it was a full-fledged professional tournament played entirely at night, lit up by over 1,000 massive stadium lights. Jon Rahm, one of LIV’s biggest stars, summed it up best: “It’s all about what LIV Golf is all about. It’s innovating and creating a new product for the consumer.”

Now, to be fair, Woods never explicitly claimed TGL was the first to introduce golf at night. His comments about primetime play and late-night matches certainly make it sound like a fresh concept. In reality, LIV was again ahead and by a much bigger scale. 

TGL’s format is reinventing golf for a new crowd. But when it comes to real night golf? LIV did it first—no simulators needed. So, let’s not act like TGL just discovered night golf when LIV has already played an entire event under the stars.

Tiger Woods, TGL and LIV Golf, driving behind the same wheel

Despite all the rivalry talk, TGL and LIV Golf actually have more in common than they’d like to admit. And Brooks Koepka—one of LIV’s biggest stars—just made that clear. Koepka recently made an unexpected visit to a TGL match, even taking a tour of the virtual course. Days later, on The Joe Pomp Show, he acknowledged that while TGL and LIV Golf are different, they’re both responding to the same reality: Golf needs to evolve.

“Look, it’s just golf at the end of the day and you’ve gotta make it more fun and entertaining,” Koepka said. “The attention span the younger generation has isn’t as long as everybody sitting on the couch watching golf for 5 or 6 hours. You’ve got to innovate and be creative and that’s what we [LIV Golf] are trying to do, TGL is trying to do the same thing.”

That’s where both leagues align—they understand that the traditional, slow-paced tournament format isn’t built for modern audiences. Koepka also pointed out another key similarity: fan engagement. “As a player, you look out at the crowd and see young people and you want to be able to bring your family,” he said, adding that sports today are “more vocal, they want a reaction out of you.” LIV brings the party with its concert-like vibe, and TGL is chasing that energy indoors. They may be rivals, but to be honest, both are rocking the game like never before.

Tiger Woods might be taking credit for night golf, and LIV might be claiming the title of the sport’s biggest disruptor. But the real story is that they’re both part of golf’s evolution, whether they like it or not.