Golf's Viewership Problem Is More Than Just A Tiger Woods Problem

Golf fans want to blame viewership woes on LIV Golf and/or Tiger's absence. But the real problem goes much deeper...and it won't be easy to fix.

Last month, I was glued to my television during the final round of The Players Championship. There was a ton of drama. Xander Schauffele, Brian Harman, and Wyndham Clark were all within one shot of Scottie Scheffler on the back nine. TPC Sawgrass is a fantastic course. The crowd was great. And the tournament literally came down to the final shot, with Scheffler winning after Clark’s putt lipped out on 18.

It was one of the best golf tournaments I’ve watched over the last several years — bar none. However, the ratings told a different story. The final round of the Players Championship averaged 3.5 million viewers — a 15% decline from 2023’s final round.

That means one of the best golf tournaments I have watched over the last several years was significantly less popular than the first round of the NFL Draft (12.1 million viewers) and only slightly more popular than the WNBA Draft (2.4 million viewers).

The Players Championship isn’t an outlier, either. According to Sports Media Watch, Riveria’s final round was down 5% this year. The famously rowdy Waste Management Phoenix Open was down 35%. The Cognizant was down 39%. The Arnold Palmer Invitational was down 30%. And even the historically important Masters was down 20% despite four players within one shot of the lead after eight holes on Sunday.

Overall, the PGA Tour’s viewership is down 20% across the board this year.

There are many theories as to why this is happening. The most common argument seems to center around the multi-year battle between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour, which is fair and certainly has had an impact. And TV executives frequently point to the fact that Tiger Woods isn’t playing as often, which is also fair, in my opinion.

But that only scratches the surface. Golf’s real issues are much more profound.