5 lessons we learned about Tiger Woods, TGL in inaugural schedule release

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

The slate features 15 matches on Monday and Tuesday evenings from January through March, as all six teams will play each other once. Therefore, each team will play five matches, all of which will take place at the SoFi Center in South Florida.

But Monday’s schedule release revealed five important lessons about this new venture overall. So, without further ado, here are five things we learned about TGL:

5. ESPN is committed

January is dominated by American football, with the College Football Playoff and the NFL’s postseason both taking place. The entire country focuses on these two sports, especially in the dead of winter when outdoor activities are limited. ESPN, a major player in both, structures its programming around these two behemoths, yet it remains committed to TGL.

That should bode well for the launch—and future—of this startup league.

The schedule begins on Tuesday, Jan. 7, just two days removed from The Sentry, the first event of the PGA Tour’s 2025 season. New York Golf Club (Xander Schauffele, Matt Fitzpatrick, Rickie Fowler, and Cameron Young) will take on The Bay Golf Club (Ludvig Åberg, Wyndham Clark, Min Woo Lee, and Shane Lowry) in this opening match, which will air on ESPN at 9 p.m ET.

Of course, it’s worth noting that The World Wide Leader in Sports airs major conference college basketball during this period too. But they have a primetime slot for the opening TGL match of the season. That speaks volumes to how ESPN views TGL.

The following week, ESPN will air its second TGL match at 7 p.m. ET, just one day removed from one of its biggest broadcasts of the year: the NFL’s Monday night Wildcard Game.

Similar sentiments can be said about the third match of the season, set to take place on Tuesday, Jan. 21. The day before, ESPN will air College Football’s National Championship Game live from Atlanta, a game that always draws massive ratings. You have to figure the network will promote TGL matches during that broadcast, which only helps the brand.

In all, 16 matches will air in prime time, while the first seven can be seen on ESPN and ESPN+.

4. Presidents Day Showcase

Further to the point above, TGL and ESPN have scheduled a tripleheader for Presidents Day on Monday, Feb. 17. Many Americans have off that day, which has led to a small void on the sporting calendar seemingly every year. The Super Bowl is the week before, so football does not interfere with it. Hence, numerous college basketball programs will schedule games for Monday during the day. The NBA and the NHL have historically done the same.

TGL will now do so as well.

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 on the Los Angeles Golf Club (Collin Morikawa, Sahith Theegala, Tommy Fleetwood, and Justin Rose). Then, Atlanta Drive GC will take on The Bay Golf Club at 4 p.m. ET, which fans can watch on ESPN.

The nightcap will feature The Bay Golf Club taking on Boston Common Golf (Rory McIlroy, Keegan Bradley, Adam Scott, and Hideki Matsuyama) at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN2.

A fourth TGL match will follow on Tuesday evening at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN as New York Golf Club will take on Jupiter Links Golf Club (Tiger Woods, Max Homa, Tom Kim, and Kevin Kisner).

It’s a Presidents Day Showcase and further proof that ESPN is committed to TGL.

3. Player Friendly Schedule

The 2025 schedule involved a lot of logistical gymnastics, but the players—and their whereabouts—were prioritized.

For instance, the first match of TGL, scheduled for Jan. 7, 2025, will happen on a Tuesday. Officials want to give players time to travel to South Florida from Maui, where The Sentry will wrap up two days prior. The first three weeks of TGL matches will all occur on a Tuesday evening, partially for this reason but also due to football, as outlined above.

The fourth TGL match of the inaugural season, which will feature the debut of Boston Common Golf (Rory McIlroy, Keegan Bradley, Adam Scott, and Hideki Matsuyama), will happen on Monday, Jan. 27—the first scheduled match for a Monday. McIlroy’s Boston Common will square off against Woods and his Jupiter Links Golf Club. But TGL officials bumped this match up to Monday because of the Farmers Insurance Open.

Because CBS airs the AFC Championship every year, and since the AFC and NFC Championship games receive so much attention on the final Sunday of January every year, the Farmers Insurance Open decided to alter its schedule in 2022. That year, tournament officials moved the first round to Wednesday and the final round to Saturday so it did not compete with the NFL head-to-head. CBS Sports Host Jim Nantz has famously called the Farmers Insurance Open remotely over the past couple of years and did so from Baltimore in January.

Nevertheless, with the Farmers Insurance Open wrapping up on Saturday evening at Torrey Pines in San Diego, TGL players still have two days to return to South Florida for their match on Monday night.

The one caveat to that is the Presidents’ Day Tripleheader, as the Genesis Invitational in Los Angeles wraps up the day before, on Sunday, Feb. 16. With matches taking place the following day, you may see some tired and jet-lagged players on that Monday.

2. $160 Tickets

The Ryder Cup and its expensive $750 ticket prices made headlines across the sport last week. Golf fans everywhere grumbled at the figure, noting how the PGA of America disregarded the ‘Common Fan,’ an ironic development since Bethpage Black, known as ‘The People’s Country Club,’ will host next year’s competition.

Regardless, TGL revealed that single-match tickets will start at $160 for the 2025 season, leading to more grumblings online. The SoFi Center can host up to 1,500 fans, thus creating an intimate “greenside” experience for those in attendance. Tickets go on sale on Tuesday, Oct. 29 at 10 a.m.

Whether demand will meet that price remains to be seen.

1. No Tiger and Rory Week 1

Despite having their names all over TGL, Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy will not play in the league’s opening match on Jan. 7.

Woods underwent another back surgery on Sept. 13, but that procedure is not expected to impact his play for TGL. Yet, this scheduling quirk gives him an extra week to get ready. He will make his TGL debut on Jan. 14, the day after college football’s national championship game.

The 15-time major winner last teed it up at The Open Championship at Royal Troon, where he missed the cut. But he did say then that he would play two marquee exhibitions in December. First, he is slated to play at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas, the limited-field event he hosts annually. And then, Woods and son Charlie are again scheduled to play in the PNC Championship, the father-son event held in Orlando right before Christmas. That said, Woods did not allude to these events immediately after his latest operation in September. His health is once again a mystery.

Meanwhile, McIlroy will begin his season in the Middle East once again. He has won the Hero Dubai Desert Classic on four occasions—including the last two editions—and will return to the Emirates Golf Club in January to defend his title. Because of those obligations, McIlroy and his Boston Common Golf Club will not make their TGL debut until Jan. 27, eight days after the conclusion of the Hero Dubai Desert Classic.

Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.