Xander Schauffele gained his second main championship on the Open Championship final Sunday. Royal Troon challenged the golfers with its wild circumstances, however it appears the followers weren’t .
Nonetheless, the tv scores for that ultimate spherical have been reportedly the worst in nearly a decade. NBC and Peacock drew in 3.39 million viewers to look at Schauffele win by two photographs, per Josh Carpenter of Sports activities Enterprise Journal.
That’s a 4 p.c lower from final yr when Brian Harman gained at Royal Liverpool.
These scores are the bottom since Zach Johnson gained the Open in 2015 at St. Andrews. Johnson defeated Louis Oosthuizen and Marc Leishman in a four-hole playoff that completed on a Monday.
NBC and Peacock drew 3.39M viewers on Sunday for Xander Schauffele’s two-shot win in @TheOpen, down 4% from final yr and Brian Harman.
That’s the bottom quantity for the ultimate spherical since Zach Johnson’s win in 2015, which completed 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 lower, so which will have contributed to the dearth of curiosity.
Seeing such low scores for one of many 4 largest occasions on the PGA Tour schedule is stunning.
Nonetheless, that appears to be the development in 2024, as half of the majors noticed its tv scores lower.
CBS Sports activities solely noticed 9.589 million viewers watch Scottie Scheffler earn his second Inexperienced Jacket. That may be a 20% drop from the 2023 Masters Event that noticed Jon Rahm win.
Surprisingly, the PGA Championship noticed a ten% improve in viewership on CBS Sports activities. Whereas many individuals complained about Valhalla Golf Membership, they nonetheless watched Schauffele win his first main over Bryson DeChambeau. Scottie Scheffler’s arrest in all probability helped with scores as properly.
The U.S. Open’s viewership noticed the best tv scores in 11 years as Pinehurst No. 2 was on full show.
DeChambeau and McIlroy went head-to-head. Golf followers noticed the Northern Irishman collapse down the stretch whereas the LIV Golf captain made an unbelievable bunker shot to win his second U.S. Open.
With the PGA Championship and U.S. Open’s uptick, might DeChambeau be a motive behind it?
Perhaps the extent of competitors additionally had one thing to do with it, particularly because it was a decent race. Nonetheless, the Open noticed a reasonably aggressive ultimate spherical as properly.
Are followers lastly fed up with the divide between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour?
The numbers don’t lie. Is DeChambeau the newest participant to maneuver the needle? It’s fairly regarding to see a lower in half of the majors, and it’s one thing to handle sooner reasonably than later.
Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf employees author for SB Nation’s Taking part in By way of. For extra golf protection, comply with us @_PlayingThrough on all main social platforms. You can too comply with her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @golf_girl_sl.
