The debut of the new indoor golf league founded by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy drew a sizable audience for ESPN on Tuesday.

Nielsen ratings reported by Front Office Sports and Sports Media Watch showed TGL’s opening game drew an average of 919,000 viewers during its two-hour run from 9:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. Tuesday night, with viewership from 9:15 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.: Peaked at 1.1 million at 00:30 p.m

It was a good start to the new golf league, which was supposed to debut last year but had to be postponed after the roof collapsed at the SoFi Center in Palm Beach, Florida, and managed to draw 28 percent more spectators than a college basketball game in the same time slot last year.

According to Sports Media Watch, TGL saw a 22 percent increase in viewership from the previous college basketball game – a contest between Duke and Pittsburgh.

The new league’s season opener was also the focus of the nationally televised NBA games, which included the Lakers and Mavericks (1.15 million) and the Celtics and Nuggets (1.06 million) on Tuesday.

The opening match of the TGL consisted of a 15-hole contest between Bay Golf Club and New York Golf Club, with the former winning 9-2.

The TGL debuted with great anticipation and excitement considering what Woods and McIlroy wanted to accomplish with the indoor simulator golf league.

The 15-game regular season will be played in the technological marvel of the 250,000-square-foot SoFi Center.

Now it remains to be seen whether viewer numbers will remain stable or even increase in the coming weeks.

Woods and McIlroy will play their first team game of the TGL season on Tuesday when Jupiter Links Golf Club takes on Los Angeles Golf Club.

Rickie Fowler told reporters that the new indoor league is intended to complement what the PGA Tour is trying to accomplish with the sport.

“This is not an attempt to compete with what we do on the (PGA) Tour,” he said. “This is an addition to the game and hopefully it can open some people’s eyes to what’s possible. The biggest factor is how it plays on TV and how people see it. The sky is the limit to what you can do.

“This is just the beginning.”