The Sunday TV ratings for the Players Championship were disappointing.
Despite delivering the most thrilling and celebrity-packed conclusion to the 2024 PGA Tour golf season, the Players Championship failed to generate impressive TV ratings.
According to Sports Business Journal, viewership of the tour’s main event on Sunday decreased greatly compared to last year. It is noteworthy that despite this, Scottie Scheffler won the tournament again and with a much tighter outcome.
In the previous year, Scheffler’s triumph by five shots drew an audience of 4.14 million viewers while only 3.53 million tuned in to witness the World No.1 take victory at TPC Sawgrass on Sunday this season.
The tour and NBC received another blow as the broadcast of this year’s Players tournament saw its lowest ratings for a completed Sunday final round in over ten years. In 2014, when Martin Kaymer defeated Jim Furyk, three million viewers tuned in; however, only 2.91 million watched last Sunday due to bad weather conditions that caused coverage to be pushed onto Golf Channel before Cameron Smith was crowned champion on Monday. This also marked the end of an era where LIV Golf players were banned from participating in PGA Tour events until their emergence later that same year.
The outcomes align with a concerning pattern dating back to the previous year, which some attribute to fan fatigue stemming from the PGA Tour and LIV Golf’s fragmented relationship.
Despite having numerous stars, Shane Ryan pointed out that there is still no one who can match Tiger Woods’ impact. Since 2019, Woods hasn’t participated in the Players tournament and has only played a round during the Genesis Invitational back in February of 2024 before withdrawing mid-way through his second round.
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan validated a “constructive” meeting with Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the head of PIF and LIV Golf earlier this week. Both groups are working towards an agreement that would enable top golfers to participate in more events together. In addition, Strategic Sports Group partnered with the tour back in January.
