Atlanta Drive claimed the first-ever TGL championship, beating New York in a thrilling best-of-three finale that came down to the wire.
Billy Horschel sank a clutch long putt in the second-to-last hole to secure the title and a massive $9 million prize for his Georgia team.
The new virtual golf league’s first season had plenty of memorable moments. Even Tiger Woods got in on the fun – though he did have that one hilarious moment where he misjudged a distance by 100 yards.
ESPN’s ratings look pretty good, and fans seem to love the quick two-hour format for 15 holes of golf. The league introduced some cool innovations too, like a shot clock and this neat thing called SmartPin that has a built-in camera.
But now that season one is in the books, what’s next for TGL?
A second season seems likely, even though there hasn’t been an official announcement yet. With big money and celebrity team owners involved, it would be shocking if the league didn’t return.
“I started an Apple note probably in October called ‘season two wishlist,'” TGL producer Jeff Neubarth recently told the Golf Channel Podcast. “I am so deep into that note right now that I would probably need an entire off-season just to read it.”
There’s even talk about expanding to the West Coast and adding more teams.
The schedule needs some tweaking though. This year had matches on different days, sometimes cramming three two-hour matches into one night. That’s a lot of golf after watching regular PGA Tour events all weekend.
The season also ran a bit long, stretching from January to March. It probably should’ve wrapped before The Players Championship.
The roster situation is interesting too. We don’t know if players signed multi-year deals or need new contracts. Some big PGA Tour names weren’t involved this year, and there are exciting young players like Nick Dunlap and Akshay Bhatia who could join.
Tiger Woods just had Achilles surgery, so his playing future with Jupiter Links is uncertain.
Then there’s the LIV Golf question. If the PGA Tour and Saudi PIF make a deal, could we see stars like Jon Rahm (who was already signed up for TGL), Bryson DeChambeau, and Brooks Koepka join in?
Some folks are even wondering if entire LIV teams might get involved. Maybe we’ll see a TGL-LIV championship someday.
For now, though, TGL’s first season showed that virtual golf can work – and work well. The future looks pretty bright for this innovative league.
