The first season of TGL is in the closing stages with the semi-finals taking place this week before the best-of-three-match final starts on Monday.
The new competition, founded by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, has earned mixed reviews from both fans and pundits.
While most people agree that it’s a good idea – more televised golf can’t be bad – some people are not convinced by the execution.
Rick Shiels is the latest to offer his verdict on the competition and has recommended a significant change to the format.
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Rick Shiels shares thoughts on TGL season one and suggests big change
Shiels’ initial comments on TGL were positive, explaining that he would like to try it out himself, but he hasn’t been impressed with the player’s attitudes towards the tournament.
“I like it. I think it has huge potential,” he said on his podcast. “I would love to play it, I would love to go and do it, I think it would be a really cool concept. But I don’t know if the players are that bothered. They don’t seem really, really into it.”
The Englishman’s bigger issue, however, is that he thinks it’s not suited to live television. Instead, he would prefer if it were condensed into a shorter TV program.
“I have probably watched three events so far, there have been 12 matches. I have found myself midway through kind of zoning out a bit, scrolling through my phone and even turning off, I wasn’t totally engrossed and I feel like it would be a much better product if it wasn’t live.
“When I have watched the highlights on YouTube afterwards, it’s been a 20-minute highlight video. I have actually enjoyed that a lot more. I feel like it doesn’t need to be a live product. I actually think it could be a much better viewing experience and a TV product if it was a 30-minute show.”
This seems highly unlikely to happen but Shiels does have a point. The highlights packages do tend to be more enjoyable than the actual program, which you wouldn’t have said about The Players, for example.
Shane Lowry’s TGL comments prove Rick Shiels wrong
While Shiels might be right about the quality of the television product, he’s completely wrong about the players’ commitment to the competition.
Shane Lowry’s comments after The Bay Golf Club lost to Los Angeles Golf Club earlier in the season prove that they do care about winning.
“I think that the one thing that surprised me about this whole experience is how much I care and how much I want to win,” Lowry said, via Kyle Porter.
“Obviously, it’s something new, like you said. We didn’t know what to expect. I’m pretty p—– off that we lost tonight.”
It will never be as important as the majors or probably any PGA Tour event but you can guarantee that the winning team will celebrate properly next week.
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