The Open viewing figures prove Rory McIlroy right after LIV Golf warning ⚠️

Rory McIlroy’s concerns about the declining TV ratings for golf’s major championships have been vindicated by the latest viewing figures for the Open at Royal Troon. The event, which saw Xander Schauffele win his second major championship of the year, drew in its lowest viewership in nearly a decade, with only 3.39 million tuning in on American networks NBC and Peacock.

This represents a four per cent drop from the previous year and continues a pattern of declining viewing figures for golf’s biggest events. The final round of the Masters this year saw a 20 per cent drop in viewers, with CBS drawing in a reported 9.589 million. These numbers are in line with McIlroy’s warnings about the dwindling interest in golf’s major prizes in terms of viewing figures.

McIlroy, a vocal critic of the LIV Golf tour, has expressed his concerns about the impact of the ongoing feud between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf on the sport’s popularity. He believes that the constant bickering and infighting are turning people off men’s professional golf, and that a unified approach is necessary to restore the sport’s popularity.

“I think with the fighting and everything that’s gone on over the past couple of years, people are just getting fatigued, and it’s turning people off men’s professional golf, and that’s not a good thing for anyone,” McIlroy said. “It’s going to be really interesting to see how the four major championships do, or even the three, because put Augusta aside, I think that sort of lives in its own world.”

However, McIlroy has also expressed a desire to see the game itself going from strength to strength, despite the ongoing civil war. He has admitted that he wants to see a unified approach, with the PGA Tour and LIV Golf working together for the good of the game.

“I don’t think there should be a punishment,” McIlroy said. “Obviously I’ve changed my tune on that because I see where golf is and I see that having a diminished PGA Tour and having a diminished LIV Tour or anything else is bad for both parties. It would be much better being together and moving forward together for the good of the game.”

LIV CEO Greg Norman has welcomed McIlroy’s change in approach, saying that it represents a significant turning point for the game. “The reason I say I appreciate Rory falling on his sword, to some degree, is the fact that he did judge us by not knowing the facts,” Norman said. “He judged us on other people’s thoughts and opinions. So, I say, ‘hey, thank you, Rory’. We all knew it was going to work within the golf ecosystem. We all wanted to be there, we are going to be there he said that. To me, this is a hugely significant turning point for everybody.”