Xander Schauffele won his second major championship at the Open Championship last Sunday. Royal Troon challenged the golfers with its wild conditions, but it seems the fans were not interested.
However, the television ratings for that final round were reportedly the worst in almost a decade. NBC and Peacock drew in 3.39 million viewers to watch Schauffele win by two shots, per Josh Carpenter of Sports Business Journal.
That’s a four percent decrease from last year when Brian Harman won at Royal Liverpool.
These ratings are the lowest since Zach Johnson won the Open in 2015 at St. Andrews. Johnson defeated Louis Oosthuizen and Marc Leishman in a four-hole playoff that finished on a Monday.
NBC and Peacock drew 3.39M viewers on Sunday for Xander Schauffele’s two-shot win in @TheOpen, down 4% from last year and Brian Harman.
That’s the lowest number for the final round since Zach Johnson’s win in 2015, which finished on a Monday on ESPN (cable) pic.twitter.com/9r7guxnfx1
— Josh Carpenter (@JoshACarpenter) July 23, 2024
Granted, Rory McIlroy, Bryson DeChambeau, Viktor Hovland, Tiger Woods and Ludvig Åberg all missed the cut, so that may have contributed to the lack of interest.
Seeing such low ratings for one of the four biggest events on the PGA Tour schedule is shocking.
However, that seems to be the trend in 2024, as half of the majors saw its television ratings decrease.
CBS Sports only saw 9.589 million viewers watch Scottie Scheffler earn his second Green Jacket. That is a 20% drop from the 2023 Masters Tournament that saw Jon Rahm win.
Surprisingly, the PGA Championship saw a 10% increase in viewership on CBS Sports. While many people complained about Valhalla Golf Club, they still watched Schauffele win his first major over Bryson DeChambeau. Scottie Scheffler’s arrest probably helped with ratings as well.
The U.S. Open’s viewership saw the highest television ratings in 11 years as Pinehurst No. 2 was on full display.
DeChambeau and McIlroy went head-to-head. Golf fans saw the Northern Irishman collapse down the stretch while the LIV Golf captain made an incredible bunker shot to win his second U.S. Open.
With the PGA Championship and U.S. Open’s uptick, could DeChambeau be a reason behind it?
Maybe the level of competition also had something to do with it, especially since it was a tight race. However, the Open saw a fairly competitive final round as well.
Are fans finally fed up with the divide between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour?
The numbers do not lie. Is DeChambeau the latest player to move the needle? It is quite concerning to see a decrease in half of the majors, and it is something to address sooner rather than later.
Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @golf_girl_sl.
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