Rory McIlroy’s ‘not good for anyone’ claim vindicated after The Open

Rory McIlroy’s concerns about dwindling TV ratings in golf appear to have been vindicated after the final round of The Open Championship at Royal Troon drew shockingly low viewing figures. McIlroy had expressed his worries about the constant bickering about money at the top of the men’s game turning people off, and the latest ratings seem to support his claim.

 

According to reports, the final round of The Open, which saw Xander Schauffele claim his second major championship title of the year, drew only 3.39 million viewers in the United States. This represents a 4% drop from the previous year’s final round, which was already the lowest since 2015.

 

The decline in viewership is not limited to The Open, as other major championships have also seen a significant drop in ratings. The Masters, for example, saw a 20% drop in viewership this year, with only 9.589 million viewers tuning in on the final day. The PGA Championship at Valhalla also attracted a relatively low audience of five million viewers, while the U.S. Open at Pinehurst No.2 drew 11.4 million viewers.

 

McIlroy had expressed his concerns about the impact of the ongoing feud between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf on the sport’s popularity before the PGA Championship. “If you look at the TV ratings of the PGA Tour this year, they’re down 20 per cent across the board,” he said. “That’s a fifth. That’s big. I would say the numbers on LIV aren’t great either in terms of the people tuning in.”

 

He added, “I just 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’s comments came at a time when he also changed his stance on whether players who defected to LIV should be punished if they wish to play PGA Tour events in the future. He stated, “I don’t think there should be a punishment. 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.”

 

The PGA Tour is continuing its discussions with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund to ratify last June’s framework agreement, with Tiger Woods claiming that the talks are going well. However, the details of the discussions remain scarce.

 

The decline in viewership and the ongoing feud between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf have raised concerns about the future of the sport. McIlroy’s comments and the latest ratings seem to suggest that the constant bickering and infighting are indeed turning people off, and that a unified approach may be necessary to restore the sport’s popularity.