TGL smashes debut expectations with massive ratings

It's hard to imagine a better opening night for TGL than what was delivered to fans, even if the final score of evening wasn't particularly close. The Bay Golf Club may have emerged as the winner on Tuesday night with an emphatic 9-2 victory over New York Golf Club, but TGL as a product showed it has serious staying power.

In fact, TGL was watched by over 3.2 million viewers, according to Zoomph, which beat out the ratings of all other sporting events in the United States, including the NBA and college basketball. Overall, the event averaged over 1.2 million viewers during the course of the entire showing on ESPN.

This is a significant win for TGL on a number of levels, even if there is still work to be done over the next several weeks. But one thing is for certain, Tuesday nights during the winter are made for indoor golf.

RELATED: TGL can explode in popularity by offering golf fans a rare primetime experience

The reality is there's little competition in the sports landscape, even when it comes to professional or college hoops. The NBA's two best teams - Cleveland Cavaliers and Oklahoma City Thunder - will take the court Wednesday evening, but there's been almost zero buzz around the matchup as pro basketball's ratings continue to struggle.

TGL isn't selling golf fans as being a serious PGA Tour event, but more of an experience you'd get if you went to your local TopGolf with a group of buddies. The only difference is golf fanatics get to witness most of the sport's elite players every week when they compete on the indoor course.

It was thoroughly enjoyable to just watch players be themselves and have the opportunity to trash talk with one another, hit some epic shots and still compete in front of a crowd.

One of the true downsides to golf over its long history has been how serious it is on every shot of every hole, and while it's understandable that the sport is a very cerebral one social media and other viewers at home seemed to enjoy the relaxed nature that players were displaying.

Time will tell if TGL can keep up this kind of success throughout the coming months, but after the initial feedback from fans it seems like there's a very strong chance for Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods' venture to really skyrocket in popularity.

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