PGA Tour Viewership Numbers Continue To Take A Significant Dip, And It's Not Complicated As To Why

Fewer people are watching the PGA Tour nowadays than in years past based on TV ratings over the last two weeks. It's easy to get in the weeds to drum up theories as to why we've seen a significant dip in viewership numbers, specifically over the last two weeks, but in reality it's not overly complicated to see why the drop in numbers is occurring.

The Players Championship held two weeks ago was, without question, the best PGA Tour tournament of 2024 and one could even argue it was the most-entertaining golf event we've witnessed in well over 12 months. The leaderboard was loaded with star power, players were competing for the largest purse on Tour, and you had World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler come from behind to become the first player to ever go back-to-back at TPC Sawgrass.

 (Corey Perrine/USA TODAY NETWORK)

Despite it being a perfect scenario from an entertainment perspective, Sunday's final round on NBC drew only 3.5 million viewers, which is a 17 percent dip from the 4.1 million who watched Scheffler's victory the year prior. 

As for this past week's Tour event, the Valspar Championship won by Peter Malnatai, a drop-off in ratings was going to be inevitable when comparing it to The Players. The Valspar featured a significantly weaker field and was very much a ‘hangover week’ having to play follow up to the PGA Tour's premiere event.

More golf fans completely checked out for Valspar week than expected, however.

According to Josh Carpenter of Sports Business Journal, NBC averaged 1.886 million viewers during Malnati's come-from-behind victory, which was a 27 percent drop compared to Taylor Moore's victory at the same event 365 days prior.

Jordan Spieth was in contention before Moore claimed victory in 2023, which helped draw in eyeballs, but Malnati leaped the likes of Cameron Young and Xander Schauffele this time around, which are certainly two high-profile players.

This significant drop off in numbers in back-to-back weeks is happening while the game of golf is being played by more Americans than ever before, which would suggest more folks would be tuning in to watch final round coverage of the PGA Tour.

What's Causing The Ratings Drop Off For PGA Tour Broadcasts?

The Players championship seeing a 17 percent drop in ratings is a much-larger headscratcher than the Valspar's dip, but not a stunner.

Golf fans, even the ones who two to three years ago wouldn't dare miss the final round of The Players, are worn out. They're tired of the divide in professional golf. That divide may be a bit smaller than it was a year ago, but the split between the Tour, LIV Golf, and the Saudi PIF is still lingering over the sport, heavily.

(Lucas Peltier/USA TODAY Sports)

People aren't as interested in watching professional golf, even The Players, when some of the best players in the world aren't in the field because they chose to take their talents to LIV.

This past Sunday's drop in ratings for the Valspar Championship is easy to pinpoint. You add The Players hangover on top of the NCAA Tournament being played and people aren't going to tune in to watch Peter Malnati earn his first win in almost 10 years, no matter how great the story was. 

Since LIV Golf's debut in 2022, the majority of golf fans have only seemed to find the energy to care about the four major championships. The ratings following the Masters in April will be a great indicator as to whether or not that sentiment rings true and if there really are fewer people watching professional golf in 2024.