Tiger Woods is set to make his return to professional golf on Tuesday. Well, kind of.
Woods will take his first professional swings since the 2024 Open Championship on Tuesday night in the SoFi Center in Palm Beach Gardens, FL, where he’ll slot in for Game 2 of the TGL Finals, with his Jupiter Links Golf Club trailing Los Angeles Golf Club 1-0 in a best-of-three series.
It’ll almost certainly be the most-watched TGL match of the season. And I’m not afraid to admit, I’ll absolutely be watching.
But Tiger’s return is simply the latest example of what has become an increasingly common phenomenon in sports: Old dudes returning to action in made-for-TV specials designed to nostalgia-bait viewers into watching. And so far, it’s working.
Tom Brady just headlined a Saudi-sponsored flag football extravaganza. Netflix trotted out a 58-year-old Mike Tyson to get beaten up by 27-year-old YouTuber Jake Paul. Now, the streamer is promoting a fight between two other former legends — Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao — both of whom are also quickly approaching a half-century in age. John McEnroe is playing pickleball on ESPN. LIV Golf is a borderline retirement league. WWE is leaning into John Cena and Brock Lesnar like it’s 2002.
The reason why all of this is happening is obvious. Folks like you and me will tune in, and everyone involved can make a sh*t ton of money.
Netflix claims that the Tyson-Paul fight in November 2024 averaged 60 million viewers. WWE says that last year’s WrestleMania event, which was headlined by John Cena, saw an audience increase of 114% over 2024, clocking 1.1 billion social views during the weekend of the event. Sometimes, it’s easier to rely on the stars of yesterday than to develop the new stars of today.
It’s no secret that sports fans are among the most nostalgic bunch of individuals ever to walk the Earth. We yearn for the heroes of our youth. And as aging and retired athletes stay increasingly “game-ready” with modern health and fitness standards, there’s more opportunity to trot out athletes that are past their prime.
The real question is how long this gimmick can continue to work. There are only so many times a broadcaster or a league can hype up a couple of has-beens before the novelty wears off. The gravy train has to end at some point, right?
So far, there’s no slowing down. People clearly still like to watch living legends compete, even if they are far outclassed by current athletes.
Tiger Woods’ return to TGL is the most talked-about story in golf today. The speculation is that one round of simulator golf means he’s ready to take on Augusta National in just over two weeks. Perhaps it does. But even then, his days of competing for green jackets are long gone. Tiger is firmly in the “past champion” tier of Masters exemptions alongside Vijay Singh and José María Olazábal. No one seriously thinks he can still compete at the highest level.
But that’s the point. Tiger is Tiger. We want to watch him no matter what. That’s true now, and it will still be true in 2046. But is Woods the exception or the rule? Will we want to see, say, Patrick Mahomes play flag football when he’s 48, like Tom Brady currently is? Will we tune in to watch LeBron James play HORSE in five or 10 years?
Or is this level of nostalgia purely a millennial phenomenon? A manifestation of a unique period in popular culture and media where names like Mike Tyson actually meant something to the vast majority of people?
Who the hell knows? But right now, it’s time to cash in.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.