Tiger Woods, TGL 2025 schedule launch taught us 5 classes

TGL, along with Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, unveiled its schedule for the 2025 season.

The slate options 15 matches on Monday and Tuesday evenings from January by means of March, as all six groups will play one another as soon as. Due to this fact, every staff will play 5 matches, all of which can happen on the SoFi Middle in South Florida.

However Monday’s schedule launch revealed 5 essential classes about this new enterprise general. So, with out additional ado, listed below are 5 issues we discovered about TGL:

5. ESPN is dedicated

January is dominated by American soccer, with the Faculty Soccer Playoff and the NFL’s postseason each happening. Your complete nation focuses on these two sports activities, particularly within the useless of winter when outside actions are restricted. ESPN, a significant participant in each, constructions its programming round these two behemoths, but it stays dedicated to TGL.

That ought to bode nicely for the launch—and future—of this startup league.

The schedule begins on Tuesday, Jan. 7, simply two days faraway from The Sentry, the primary occasion of the PGA Tour’s 2025 season. New York Golf Membership (Xander Schauffele, Matt Fitzpatrick, Rickie Fowler, and Cameron Younger) will tackle The Bay Golf Membership (Ludvig Åberg, Wyndham Clark, Min Woo Lee, and Shane Lowry) on this opening match, which can air on ESPN at 9 p.m ET.

After all, it’s price noting that The World Extensive Chief in Sports activities airs main convention faculty basketball throughout this era too. However they’ve a primetime slot for the opening TGL match of the season. That speaks volumes to how ESPN views TGL.

The next week, ESPN will air its second TGL match at 7 p.m. ET, simply in the future faraway from one among its largest broadcasts of the yr: the NFL’s Monday night time Wildcard Recreation.

Comparable sentiments will be mentioned concerning the third match of the season, set to happen on Tuesday, Jan. 21. The day earlier than, ESPN will air Faculty Soccer’s Nationwide Championship Recreation reside from Atlanta, a recreation that all the time attracts huge scores. You need to determine the community will promote TGL matches throughout that broadcast, which solely helps the model.

In all, 16 matches will air in prime time, whereas the primary seven will be seen on ESPN and ESPN+.

4. Presidents Day Showcase

Additional to the purpose above, TGL and ESPN have scheduled a tripleheader for Presidents Day on Monday, Feb. 17. Many Individuals have off that day, which has led to a small void on the sporting calendar seemingly yearly. The Tremendous Bowl is the week earlier than, so soccer doesn’t intervene with it. Therefore, quite a few faculty basketball applications will schedule video games for Monday in the course of the day. The NBA and the NHL have traditionally carried out the identical.

TGL will now accomplish that as nicely.

The Presidents Day tripleheader begins at 1 p.m. ET on ESPN, with Atlanta Drive GC (Justin Thomas, Patrick Cantlay, Billy Horschel, and Lucas Glover) taking over the Los Angeles Golf Membership (Collin Morikawa, Sahith Theegala, Tommy Fleetwood, and Justin Rose). Then, Atlanta Drive GC will tackle The Bay Golf Membership at 4 p.m. ET, which followers can watch on ESPN.

The nightcap will characteristic The Bay Golf Membership taking over Boston Frequent Golf (Rory McIlroy, Keegan Bradley, Adam Scott, and Hideki Matsuyama) at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN2.

A fourth TGL match will observe on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN as New York Golf Membership will tackle Jupiter Hyperlinks Golf Membership (Tiger Woods, Max Homa, Tom Kim, and Kevin Kisner).

It’s a Presidents Day Showcase and additional proof that ESPN is dedicated to TGL.

Photograph by Jane Barlow/PA Photographs through Getty Photographs

3. Participant Pleasant Schedule

The 2025 schedule concerned a number of logistical gymnastics, however the gamers—and their whereabouts—have been prioritized.

For example, the primary match of TGL, scheduled for Jan. 7, 2025, will occur on a Tuesday. Officers need to give gamers time to journey to South Florida from Maui, the place The Sentry will wrap up two days prior. The primary three weeks of TGL matches will all happen on a Tuesday night, partially for that reason but additionally on account of soccer, as outlined above.

The fourth TGL match of the inaugural season, which can characteristic the debut of Boston Frequent Golf (Rory McIlroy, Keegan Bradley, Adam Scott, and Hideki Matsuyama), will occur on Monday, Jan. 27—the primary scheduled match for a Monday. McIlroy’s Boston Frequent will sq. off in opposition to Woods and his Jupiter Hyperlinks Golf Membership. However TGL officers bumped this match as much as Monday due to the Farmers Insurance coverage Open.

As a result of CBS airs the AFC Championship yearly, and because the AFC and NFC Championship video games obtain a lot consideration on the ultimate Sunday of January yearly, the Farmers Insurance coverage Open determined to change its schedule in 2022. That yr, match officers moved the primary spherical to Wednesday and the ultimate spherical to Saturday so it didn’t compete with the NFL head-to-head. CBS Sports activities Host Jim Nantz has famously referred to as the Farmers Insurance coverage Open remotely over the previous couple of years and did so from Baltimore in January.

Nonetheless, with the Farmers Insurance coverage Open wrapping up on Saturday night at Torrey Pines in San Diego, TGL gamers nonetheless have two days to return to South Florida for his or her match on Monday night time.

The one caveat to that’s the Presidents’ Day Tripleheader, because the Genesis Invitational in Los Angeles wraps up the day earlier than, on Sunday, Feb. 16. With matches happening the next day, you may even see some drained and jet-lagged gamers on that Monday.

2. $160 Tickets

The Ryder Cup and its costly $750 ticket costs made headlines throughout the game final week. Golf followers in every single place grumbled on the determine, noting how the PGA of America disregarded the ‘Frequent Fan,’ an ironic growth since Bethpage Black, referred to as ‘The Individuals’s Nation Membership,’ will host subsequent yr’s competitors.

Regardless, TGL revealed that single-match tickets will begin at $160 for the 2025 season, resulting in extra grumblings on-line. The SoFi Middle can host as much as 1,500 followers, thus creating an intimate “greenside” expertise for these in attendance. Tickets go on sale on Tuesday, Oct. 29 at 10 a.m.

Whether or not demand will meet that worth stays to be seen.

1. No Tiger and Rory Week 1

Regardless of having their names throughout TGL, Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy won’t play within the league’s opening match on Jan. 7.

Woods underwent one other again surgical procedure on Sept. 13, however that process isn’t anticipated to affect his play for TGL. But, this scheduling quirk offers him an additional week to prepare. He’ll make his TGL debut on Jan. 14, the day after faculty soccer’s nationwide championship recreation.

The 15-time main winner final teed it up at The Open Championship at Royal Troon, the place he missed the minimize. However he did say then that he would play two marquee exhibitions in December. First, he’s slated to play on the Hero World Problem within the Bahamas, the limited-field occasion he hosts yearly. After which, Woods and son Charlie are once more scheduled to play within the PNC Championship, the father-son occasion held in Orlando proper earlier than Christmas. That mentioned, Woods didn’t allude to those occasions instantly after his newest operation in September. His well being is as soon as once more a thriller.

In the meantime, McIlroy will start his season within the Center East as soon as once more. He has received the Hero Dubai Desert Traditional on 4 events—together with the final two editions—and can return to the Emirates Golf Membership in January to defend his title. Due to these obligations, McIlroy and his Boston Frequent Golf Membership won’t make their TGL debut till Jan. 27, eight days after the conclusion of the Hero Dubai Desert Traditional.

Jack Milko is a golf workers author for SB Nation’s Taking part in By means of. You’ll want to take a look at @_PlayingThrough for extra golf protection. You possibly can observe him on Twitter @jack_milko as nicely.