Tiger Woods may have faced a harsh defeat on the golf course Tuesday night, but his inaugural appearance in the TGL (Tuesday Golf League) proved to be a major draw for sports enthusiasts, surpassing the NBA in viewership.

Tiger Woods xuất trận trong tuần đấu thứ 2 của TGL

More than 1 million fans tuned in to witness Woods’ TGL debut, marking a commendable 9 percent increase over the viewership numbers from the league’s kickoff match the previous week. In a noteworthy head-to-head comparison, Woods’ event outperformed the NBA coverage on TNT.

For the second week running, the TGL delivered a lopsided contest, with Woods’ Jupiter Links Golf Club suffering a 12-1 defeat against the formidable Los Angeles Golf Club. This match not only showcased Woods’ return to competitive golf, following a disappointing cut at the Open Championship last July, but also highlighted the new virtual league’s potential to engage fans.

During the peak viewing period from 8:30 to 8:45 p.m. ET, the match attracted a high of 1.13 million viewers, as reported by the Sports Business Journal, with the entire broadcast concluding at 9:18 p.m.

In direct competition, the Cavaliers versus Pacers game on TNT managed to pull in 956,000 viewers, while the Nuggets and Mavericks game, which kicked off at 9:35 p.m., attracted 853,000 viewers. Remarkably, the TGL match nearly doubled the 587,000 viewers for Duke’s decisive win over Miami in men’s basketball aired afterwards on ESPN, according to SBJ reports.

The TGL has also contributed positively to ESPN’s overall ratings during this time slot. A men’s basketball game between Syracuse and Pitt in the same time frame last year garnered only 566,000 viewers.

Woods and his team have now suffered back-to-back defeats to kick off the TGL’s inaugural season, following Bay Golf Club’s 9-2 win over New York Golf Club on January 7, which itself attracted nearly a million viewers and surpassed the audience for any LIV Golf broadcast on The CW in the last two years.

However, fans will soon have the chance to see Woods bounce back, as his team prepares to face Boston Common Golf—a match marking the debut of Rory McIlroy’s team—on January 27.

The 15 match regular season is set to run until March 4, with playoffs scheduled for late February.