If the TGL thought that new massive tech would help its viewership by making matches interesting for viewers, then they were wrong. The league is facing what we call the Tiger Effect, meaning falling viewership amid his absence.

“Week 1 fell from 919k on ESPN to 646k on ABC, a decline of nearly 30%,” noted Flushing It Golf on X. “Week 2 fell from 1.05m on ESPN (with Tiger) to just 354k on ESPN 2 (without Tiger), a decline of nearly 65%.”

The first week of S1 of TGL saw a whopping 919k viewers, but numbers derailed for S2. An average of 646k fans tuned in to watch Billy Horschel’s 37-foot putt and Rory McIlroy‘s Boston, earning its first TGL victory.  This should have been a good sign for the viewership, but it wasn’t. As Week 2 rolled out, Atlanta vs. Bay GC viewership hovered around 354k, which is less than the previous week and the second week of S1. Now comes into play the Tiger Effect.

In Season 1, when Tiger Woods debuted in Week 2, the event drew in 1.005 million viewers—a 9% jump from the opening week (919k). Every time Woods played, numbers succeeded.  In Week 3, when he did not play, the viewership collapsed to 682k. That was a 32% decline from his debut week, similar to what we’re seeing this year.

Overall, Woods’s matches ended up posting massive numbers. His Week 4 match – Boston Common Golf vs. Jupiter Links – when the latter defeated the former 4-3, alone saw a viewership of 864k. That match took place in primetime on ESPN and was one of the most competitive matches of the season.

The second season now needs its IT factor, meaning Tiger Woods.

What makes this decline harder to ignore is the measurement change.

Last year, TGL’s ratings were panel-only. This year, however, the tournament was put in Nielsen’s panel plus big data methodology. That adds 5% to viewership figures. This means the actual viewership number, when adjusted for the new methodology, is even lower—somewhere around 615k. Now the dip stands at 33%. On the contrary, there can be various defenses as to why this is happening. It’s partly because Season 2 has not been operating in ideal conditions.

The season premiered on December 28, 2025, on Sunday afternoon on ABC, and that was the NFL’s week 17. The window was brutal compared to last season’s Tuesday-night, 9-11 p.m. ET debut. Yes, network television theoretically offers a broader reach than cable, but Sunday afternoon sports viewing is infamous for being fragmented. And once you add the NFL, the numbers will see a dip.

Then, from Week 2 onwards, the event shifted to ESPN’s subscription-based streaming, which saw some scrutiny. A higher cost to watch TGL could have also contributed to a decline in viewing. Still, the 646k viewers were substantially more than other similar golf broadcasts, such as the PNC Championship.

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Same script for the PNC Championship in the absence of Tiger Woods?

The no Tiger, no buzz was evident in the 2025 PNC Championship as well. In December 2024, Tiger Woods’s return alongside his son Charlie Woods (and the hole-in-one) turned the event into a must-watch. Round 1 saw a massive 2.92 million average viewers on NBC, which was a 147% increase from 2023’s 1.18 million. It was a new single-day record in the tournament’s 29-year history.

This viewership peaked at 3.76 million viewers in the first quarter-hour, which was fueled by a powerful NFL lead-in. Do you see the contrast? Here, the NFL aired first, and the PNC Championship broadcast came in immediately after.

Now, fast forward to 2025, and that fuel stopped working. Woods was recovering from his lumbar disc replacement surgery, so the duo didn’t compete. The field was strong with Bernhard Langer, John Daly, and the Korda father-daughter duo. The event, regardless, generated markedly less fan enthusiasm, which could be corroborated by the fans’ reaction on social media. The final viewership figures have not been published as of yet, but considering Woods’s absence, there might be a significant decline from 2024.

And just like the TGL, the 2025 PNC Championship broadcast was also fractured. The fragmentation between NBC, Golf Channel, and Peacock did not sit right with many fans.

For the TGL, Tiger Woods is expected to be back in March. If that happens, the viewership is bound to increase massively because fans tune in to watch him. For now, the dip in ratings has posed significant questions to the event, which it needs to counter eventually.