What’s the verdict on TGL? Big hit or a DUD?
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.
The PGA Tour got underway this past weekend in Hawaii and other major tours will follow suit in the coming weeks. What’s your boldest prediction for professional golf in 2025?
Jim Deeks, Fairways Magazine (@jimdeeks): I have two: First, there will be no progress in the PGA Tour-LIV talks, which I highly doubt are ongoing anyway. The LIV players’ names will fade further into the abyss. Second, golf’s TV ratings will also decline, in part because people find it boring to watch continued excellence, and in part because of perceived greed among the PGA Tour players.
Craig Loughry, Golf Ontario (@craigloughry): My boldest prediction is that we’ll see an official announcement about a formal agreement between LIV and PGA Tour by December 31, 2025 (whether that’s simply respecting each other’s dates/events or allowing players to play on each Tour.
Michael Schurman, Master Professional / Hall of Fame Member, PGA of Canada: Prediction or wish, I’d love to see the PGA TOUR play events from April 1 to Sept. 30. From Oct 1 to Feb 28, play on teams, with each team representing a city worldwide, making a league. The matches would be Fri. Sat and Sunday in a Ryder Cup format, accumulating points, standings and play-offs. My ultimate dream would be to include the LPGA. The PGA TOUR is straddling their Best Before Date. If they don’t do something creative, they’ll be outdrawn by Badminton. In reality, my prediction is more boredom.
Hal Quinn, Freelance Writer, Vancouver: The Tour will not capitulate to the Saudi money tsunami, Trump’s pals on the Court will get Ponte Vedra around that irritating tax-dodge suit, but corporate America will still not be able to justify throwing away multi millions for the right to put their name on an event no one cares about. In tota, this year will be the year of reckoning for the Tour as we used to know it. If the well-documented myriad issues are not addressed and quickly solved, what’s left will have a very short shelf life.
Peter Mumford, Fairways Magazine (@FairwaysMag): I like a scenario where the Saudi PIF says no to the PGA Tour and takes their money to Europe. A well funded DP World Tour could easily absorb LIV Golf into their schedule and become a strong competitor to the American Tour. It’s a longshot but one can hope.
Pick a player on any Tour that you think will have a breakout year in 2025?
Deeks: Jeeno Thitikul on the LPGA Tour. She had a great year in 2024, and I think that will continue.
Loughry: Geez, I think Theegala or Bhatia are going to have that breakout year. They’ve both been sneaking around that lead fairly frequently over the past year and a half.
Schurman: Ludvig Aberg will win a major.
Quinn: It sounds odd, but the player who appears poised to have a real breakthrough year is… Rory. He has put a lot behind him in 2024 — the momentary divorce, the shouldering of the Tour side of the LIV fiasco, near missing on his next Major — and still had a season that could define most careers. This year seems like a now or never one for the kid from Holywood to capture the magic again and put his indelible stamp on the game and in the game’s history books that he so treasures. Could there be a better script than him winning The Open at Royal Portrush? Didn’t think so.
Mumford: A breakout year can mean anything from a first win on Tour to multiple wins to majors – an accomplishment that moves a player up a notch or two in status. Ludvig Aberg is already a top-ranked player. A major or a multiple win season could put him in the conversation with Rory, Scottie and Xander. I think he’s ready.
After a year’s delay and mega millions spent on a stadium with incredible technology, the TGL kicked off on Tuesday evening in Palm Beach Gardens. What was your take on the latest golf entertainment vehicle: BIG HIT, DUD or somewhere in between?
Deeks: I’d say more on the side of BIG HIT than DUD. It didn’t get me very excited personally, because I’m an old man and find that blinding lights, pulsating music, and a complicated format just get me tired and cranky. But I concede that this event was purely 21st Century entertainment, for an A-D-D generation, and in that vein, I give it an A for effort. Will it succeed beyond a few more events? I doubt it. But they had similar doubts about the Skins Game back in the 80s, and it lasted quite a long time. (As for the traditionalists who will rail that TGL isn’t “traditional golf”, I say oh, come on… pull up your knee socks and get with the times.)
Loughry: The TGL product will improve, it is innovative but takes some getting used to. I’m not sure the traditional golfer will love the TGL, but they aren’t the core market this is designed for or geared towards. But I think all will agree that the shot clock is easily the best “feature” of the game, and the banter amongst players. The facility is cool, almost overloaded with tech. It was interesting to note that everything PGA Tour players and fans made fun of LIV for (music, mics, teams, and the like), was all incorporated into the TGL.
Schurman: My entire life, I have resented people who try to piggyback on the game by twisting the concept. I understand $$$, but I love golf. I dislike people who add nothing and have no respect for the traditions. Their argument is that they are creating new players, while my argument is that they are taking away from it.
Quinn: It could have been worse. No, wait, just saw Van Pelt’s lame pimp and Rory’s interview. Which begs the question; how much were those folks paid to sit in that faux amphitheatre (looking like a mock up of the 16th at Phoenix) to sort of see a bad TV show? Hope the bar was open. Amazing that so many millions of perfectly good US dollars that could have been spent on border walls and buying Greenland and Panama and …were squandered on this techno experiment. Good luck to all the high-profile investors on monetizing this thing. Next!
Mumford: It was a mixed bag for me – glued to it for the first hour but wishing they’d get on with it by the second. The technology was brilliant, the players were entertaining and the golf holes looked like candidates for one of those extreme golf calendars. I could do without the goofy player introductions, loud music and flashing lights, and while the format was designed to fit into a 2-hour TV window, it felt very rushed at times. The shot clock was a nice touch but didn’t leave much time for players or the announcers to talk about each hole or any strategy. Overall, I’m not big on hitting a ball into a screen myself, so watching others do it isn’t terribly compelling. Is it “the future of golf” as some have gushed? I hope not. It may be a fun little distraction but in the final analysis, it’s not the real thing.
Since it’s the time of year for predictions and resolutions, what are your personal golf goals for 2025?
Deeks: Recovering from hip replacement in December, I’m hoping the new joint will add 40 yards to my drives, and increased touch and feel on the greens. A guy can dream, can’t he?
Loughry: My Personal goal for 2025 is to play more than 30 rounds of golf this year and break 80 every single round.
Schurman: Goals are difficult for me to set. In the past ten years, I’ve had a hip replaced, a shoulder replaced, I had an accident cutting some of my left thumb off with a table saw, and I’m scheduled to have my other shoulder replaced next week. I have been shooting my age about 75% of the time at my home course, but we’ll see.
Quinn: My goals — and goalposts — have shifted kinda dramatically in the past year and a half. Although chronologically shooting the age should be getting easier, the goal now has shifted to just playing well enough not to be embarrassed in front of the grandchildren. They laugh at my jokes, hope this season that’s all they’re laughing at.
Mumford: My golf goal in 2025 is to be better. I spent a lot of time in 2024 on my DIY initiative to Break 80 Again. Some of it worked and some was a waste of time. Hopefully I can cherry-pick the good stuff and just be better this year. Also, I plan to play more courses I haven’t seen before. I usually average about 15 a year but last year dipped to a handful. I have a list. They’re not all Bucket List courses – just places I haven’t seen with friends I haven’t met yet.