TGL Just a Tiger Woods Show? Latest Update Shows Concerns As PGA Tour’s Worry Creeps Into The League

Sepp Straka’s third PGA Tour victory last Sunday afternoon was a nail-biter, to say the least. Although he narrowly missed beating Tom Kim’s impressive 72-hole bogey-free record, the win was still an emotional moment—especially with his parents getting teary-eyed on the course. But sadly, this special moment was only witnessed by about 232,000 people on TV. Yes, you read that right!

According to Sports Business Journal’s Josh Carpenter, TV viewing figures for the final round of the 2025 American Express plummeted by almost 60% compared to Nick Dunlap’s victory in 2024. But that’s not all. The report further stated that it was 40% lower than the 2023 American Express Tournament, where Jon Rahm carded a solid 27 under par.

Shocking! It looks like the dark clouds have started hovering over Tiger Woods’s tech-infused league now. The reason? According to new stats on Golf Gods’s Instagram feed, the most viewed golf match on its day one has hit the ground. On Thursday morning, after two weeks of upward trajectory, TGL’s TV ratings dropped by 32% to 682,000 average viewers, from week 2’s high of 1.05 million. The second round of TGL saw Woods’s Jupiter Links GC get defeated by LAGC. But the happy part? Round 2 saw over 4 million viewers tune in.

However, the 3rd match between Justin Thomas‘s Atlanta Drive and Rickie Fowler’s New York Golf Club wasn’t as successful. In fact, it proved to be a loss for Woods, with a drastic 32% drop in viewership from the second round. To make matters worse, Sofi Center missed world no. 2 Xander Schauffele, who’s dealing with a rib injury, and withdrew from the $8.8M PGA Tour event.

Now it would not be wrong to say that TGL’s producer, Jeff Neubarth’s ‘keep it close’ strategy, too, did not work this time (sarcastic approach). This forces the golfing world to question if TGL is just a Tiger Woods series and nothing without the GOAT.

Well, we might not have the answer just yet, but the good news is that both Jay Monahan and Woods have a chance to get back on track at their next event.

Is the PGA Tour & TGL gearing up for a rebound?

The PGA Tour and TGL might just shatter viewership records at their next event. Why? Well, on January 24, 2025, the PGA tour dropped its tentative field for the upcoming $20M event, and it’s packed with golfing royalty.

One of them is the palm-injured, Scottie Scheffler, who was spotted training for his debut of the year. He will make his debut on the greens of Pebble Beach.

But that’s not all! 6X major winner Jordan Spieth will also tee off, marking his highly anticipated return after a lengthy wrist injury recovery. And if that’s not enough, Rory McIlroy too is expected to join the fray on 30th January.

Moving on to TGL, the tech-infused league is poised to break records again. ESPN will air arguably the biggest match of the season in Week 4, pitting Tiger Woods’s Jupiter Link GC against Rory McIlroy’s Boston GC. You can bet we’ll be glued to our screens for that one! Are you excited for next week? Let us know below!