While LIV Golf has not seen a spike in television viewership in the United States, the PGA Tour has certainly seen a drop in 2024. 

The Players Championship two weeks ago was about the best golf that the PGA Tour could offer in it’s so-called fifth major: the world’s No. 1 golfer and defending champion in a tight battle with the reigning U.S. Open champion.

But Scottie Scheffler’s win over Wyndham Clark, highlighting the Sunday broadcast on NBC, drew 3.53 million viewers. That number is down from 4.14 million a year ago, which saw Scheffler win by five strokes. 

For last week’s Valspar Championship, which didn’t have an elite field like The Players, the viewership number on Sunday was 1.886 million. That’s a 27% drop from 2023. 

Valspar winner Peter Malnati has a unique perspective, given that he’s on the PGA Tour policy board and was one of those golfers who met with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) governor Yassir Al-Rumayyan last week in talks to negotiate last year’s framework agreement with the PIF. 

Peter Malnati on why his win resonated:

“I think people are just sick of the narrative in golf being about contracts on LIV, purses on the Tour, guaranteed comp on the Tour. I think people are so sick of that.”

“No kid dreamed, when they were watching Jordan, of having his… pic.twitter.com/5Dnyi0tqR3

— Dylan Dethier (@dylan_dethier) March 27, 2024

The final round of this year’s Genesis Invitational didn’t feature Tiger Woods, as he withdrew on day two of the event. But comparing the first round of this year’s Genesis to last year’s – which both featured Woods – the decrease from 2023 was a shade over 50%.

The year’s other big tournament, the Arnold Palmer Invitational earlier this month, also had a marked decrease in viewership. This year’s, which was won by Scheffler as well, drew 2.29 million viewers, down about 30% compared to the 2023 final round, when Kurt Kitayama outdueled Rory McIlroy for the win. 

Opposite the Arnold Palmer Invitational, LIV Golf reportedly drew 221,000 viewers on the CW network for the final round of its tournament in Hong Kong.

The next measuring stick will be next month’s Masters, which will feature many of those who moved on to LIV Golf, including defending champion Jon Rahm. That will tell the tale if PGA Tour events lacking many of the sport’s top names is something that can be attributed to the significant viewership drop thus far this year.

Cover Image via Golf Digest