Tiger Woods versus Rory McIlroy was huge, penalty shootout style overtime thrillers were riveting but TGL’s biggest moment has officially arrived.
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The first night of the best-of-three final begins at midday Tuesday AEDT with a pair of underdogs facing off to take a vital step towards the inaugural crown and the US$9 million winner’s prize, which will be decided on Wednesday AEDT.
Atlanta Drive GC and New York Golf Club upset higher ranked opponents in the semi-final, and are set to produce a tasty decider with Atlanta’s trio of Justin Thomas, Billy Horschel and Patrick Cantlay starting as favourites against New York’s Cameron Young, Rickie Fowler and Xander Schauffele.
But a favouritism tag means nothing in TGL as the evenness of the teams littered with the PGA Tour’s finest players has proven to be one of the indoor simulator golf league’s greatest strengths.
The uncertainty of who might win a match, and the fact the Hammer rule, which is a wager to double the points value of a hole, allows contests to turn on their head at any point, has resonated with fans.
American broadcaster ESPN is pleased with the fact TGL matches on Monday and Tuesday nights US time have out-rated the college basketball matches showed in the same timeslots last year.
They set their goal at 500,000 viewers in the US but more than a million tuned in for Woods’ Jupiter Links’ clash with McIlroy’s Boston Common, who ironically ended up being the two teams to miss the playoffs.
What TGL’s powerbrokers, who include the likes of Serena and Venus Williams, Liverpool and Boston Red Sox owners Fenway Sports Group as well as NBA superstar Steph Curry, are most pleased however with the fact their viewership is made up primarily of a certain demographic.
TGL report to be second only to the NBA in the US for youngest television audience in sport, with 42% of their audience in the 18-49 age range.
New York owner Steve Cohen, who also owns the MLB’s New York Mets, said TGL’s first season had “exceeded” his expectations.
Meanwhile, Atlanta Driver’s Lucas Glover said that the competition had successfully made a huge leap into the future.
“We’ve captured the video game demographic, which is going to grow the game for us, because our future is, you know, the Metaverse,” he said.
TGL also got a grasp of the viral moment including Woods using the wrong club after being told the wrong yardage, chip-ins, near hole-in-ones, flashy entrances and witty banter.
But the finale may just deliver the best moment yet.
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