TGL is coming soon but few seem to care. What are we missing?

Each week we ask our panel of writers, PGA members and golf industry experts to weigh in with their views on the hot topics of the day.

On Sunday, Steve Stricker won the Charles Schwab Cup and Stephen Alker won the Charles Schwab Cup Championship. The former is the season long PGA Tour Champions money race while the latter is the final tournament on the senior schedule. Ironically, Stricker didn’t even play the final event, such was the commanding lead he built beforehand with 15 top 10 finishes including six victories. The regular Tour used to have a similar ending before implementing their current playoff system. Which format works better?

Jim Deeks, Fairways Magazine (@jimdeeks): Well, I would’ve said the Schwab format works better, because I’ve always found the FedEx Cup system confusing. But when a guy doesn’t even bother to show up for the final event — having won the overall already — then there’s something wrong with that, too. Not that I really give a hoot. All that matters to me is majors… on all three tours (LPGA included.)

Craig Loughry, Golf Ontario (@craigloughry): It does seem odd that the #1 player can take the final week off and still win. How do you think the sponsors feel about that? Steve is one of the best humans on Tour, and his reasons were/are valid for not being there. If he could have been there, he would have, everyone knows that. I hate to sit on the fence with this question. Stricker had an amazing season, was by far the best player on the Tour all year and is undoubtedly the right player to win and be the CS-Cup Champion. That the race was over before the final event does take away some of the thunder. But he earned it.

Michael Schurman, Master Professional / Hall of Fame Member, PGA of Canada: The PGA TOUR found out the public had no clue what was happening. In 2018, Tiger won the Tour Championship, but Justin Rose won the FedEx Cup. People wondered why Rose was receiving the trophy Tiger just won. The PGA Tour’s three tournament format with successively smaller fields is better but fans have trouble understanding the action when the players are handicapped. Leave everything as is except for the final 30 when all players should begin the week even. For the Champions Tour, just present the Schwab Trophy at a different time.

Peter Mumford, Fairways Magazine (@FairwaysMag): I’m not a fan of the PGA Tour’s contrived playoff format. The Schwab Cup is a better way to reward the best golfer of the year. It’s unfortunate that Stricker didn’t play the final and unusual that he didn’t have to in order to win the whole enchilada. Perhaps if purses or points were adequately increased for the final three events so that some players had a chance to catch the leaders that would maintain some of the drama. But not so much that a player way down the list could win with one magical week. In the end, if you have a tournament winner from the final event and a different season-long money leader or points leader, so what? Golf fans aren’t stupid. They know which is which.

The trickle continues as Tiger and Rory’s TGL dropped another niblet last week with news that Tiger Woods will co-own and play for the Jupiter Links Golf Club team starting in January. TGL has a pretty impressive group of players and a lot of high-profile owners from the sports, entertainment and financial worlds, who are reputed to be paying upwards of $25 million to buy a team. Yet the steady drip of news and announcements don’t seem to be making much of an impact, especially with the Round Table panel. Are we missing something?

Deeks: I have nothing against hit-and-giggle golf (i.e., “novel events and exhibitions”), which I consider the TGL to be. I also enjoy playing simulator golf occasionally. But I’ll probably be hard-pressed to bother watching TGL, unless somebody else tells me I missed a good show and should tune in next time.

Loughry: Nuh, we’re not missing anything. The TGL is alternative golf, and it may take, but for the hard-core golf fan, it might be hard to digest. But then the hard-core golf fan may not be who they’re after for eyeballs. There are some serious players committed, and serious business groups involved.

Schurman: I still think there is room for a professional golf league with teams based in cities around the world. Events would be in a Ryder Cup format with teams playing a schedule just like any other sport with standings and play-offs. Twenty-four players on a team; 36 teams, four divisions allocated geographically around the world. Talk about growing the game, wow! My all-time dream would be for it to be mixed but nobody seems to be interested in that.

Mumford: Professional wrestling was a tired old niche sport before Vince McMahon turned it into the multi-billion-dollar World Wrestling Federation. The new extravaganza was loud, in your face and ready for prime time. For many young people, professional golf too is a tired old niche sport that takes too long to play and can be painful to watch on TV. Eliminate the walking, condense the playing format, add teams, bright lights and loud music and voila, you have something you can package into a prime-time window that’s played entirely on a screen where every shot can become a betting proposition. TGL isn’t another golf product – it’s online gambling with clubs and balls.

The PGA Tour, DP World Tour and the LPGA Tour all wind up their seasons this week, leaving only a slew of qualifying events and made-for-TV exhibitions to fill the golf void until January. Is there one of these off-season events in particular that you will mark on your calendar so as not to miss it?

Deeks: I’m not really sure what’s on the post-season golf menu these days. I used to enjoy the Skins Game, and the Wendy’s Three-Tour Challenge, but kinda gave up on the Silly Season a few years ago. With the advent of Artificial Intelligence and CGI, it’d be nice if we could have a $50 winner-take-all event featuring Bobby Jones, Gene Sarazen, Byron Nelson, Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Seve Ballesteros, Greg Norman, Nick Faldo, Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, and the members of the Fairways Round Table, in straight-up medal play.  I’d watch that for sure.

Loughry: I’m all golfed out. There is no “off season” in golf. It’s completely saturated. In February I’ll start to get the bug to watch, otherwise I’m checking out. No silly season events catch my eye, but if you make me choose, I might watch a minute of the Hero with Tiger in the Bahamas.

Schurman: Dec 7, 8 and 9 – the PGA TOUR Mixed Team event.

Mumford: I enjoy the various q-school tournaments because the outcomes mean so much to the players. And I’ll watch the LIV Golf promotional event for the same reason.