The PGA Tour’s TV ratings are on the rise this season, with last week’s Genesis Invitational becoming the most-watched non-major in the United States in nearly a year.
An average of 3.4 million viewers tuned into CBS for the final round at Torrey Pines on Sunday, as Ludvig Aberg narrowly defeated Maverick McNealy and Scottie Scheffler to win the Tiger Woods-hosted event. This represents a five percent increase in viewership from the 2024 iteration of the tournament, which was won by Hideki Matsuyama at Riviera Country Club.
Rory McIlroy wants the game of golf to come together (Image: Getty Images)
The average viewership matched the 2023 Genesis Invitational’s audience and greatly surpassed the 2022 edition, which averaged just 2.4 million viewers. CBS reported an eight percent weekend viewership increase compared to last year’s tournament, with a peak viewership of 4.2 million on Sunday – making it the most-watched non-major since The Players 11 months ago.
According to Sports Business Journal, CBS has seen a 17 percent year-on-year viewership growth for its west coast swing, which also included the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and WM Phoenix Open. Both of these events also experienced significant growth in viewership.
Declining TV audiences have been a major concern for the PGA Tour since the LIV Golf breakaway in 2022, which divided fans and left many disillusioned with the state of the sport. Despite boasting a star-studded roster, LIV has struggled to attract viewers through the opening two events of its 2025 season.
The Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf league managed to secure a broadcasting deal with FOX Sports just before the season kicked off, but the initial viewership figures were less than stellar. A mere 12,000 viewers tuned in for the first round of the opening tournament in Riyadh earlier this month. However, there was a significant uptick for the Adelaide event last week, with an average of 114,000 viewers catching the late-night broadcast of the opening round.
Ludvig Aberg’s win at the Genesis Invitational was met with a boost to TV viewership ( Image: Getty Images)
Rory McIlroy’s warning heard
These numbers might be seen as a positive sign for the PGA Tour, especially considering world No. 3 Rory McIlroy’s past concerns about declining TV audiences. He has been vocal about the necessity for the PGA Tour and LIV to come to an agreement, which now seems more likely in the near future. “I would say the numbers on LIV aren’t great either in terms of the people tuning in,” McIlroy said at the time.
“I just think with the fighting and everything that’s went on over the past couple years, people are just getting really fatigued of it and it’s turning people off men’s professional golf, and that’s not a good thing for anyone.
“It will be really interesting to see how the major championship numbers fare compared to the other bigger events because there’s an argument to be made if the numbers are better and you’ve got all the best players in the world playing, then there’s an argument to say, ‘OK, we need to get this thing back together.’
“But on the flip side, if the numbers aren’t as good, it’s an argument to still say we need to put everyone back together because people are losing interest in the game even if they don’t want to tune in to the four major championships. Like that to me is not… That’s where I said like things need a correction and things are unsustainable.”
