Rory McIlroy proven correct yet again as PGA Tour suffers major blow

The golfing world is still reeling from the impact of the feud between the PGA Tour and the upstart LIV Golf series, just as Rory McIlroy prophesied, especially if the latest viewership figures are anything to go by .

The 2024 BMW Championship felt the brunt of this clash , suffering a sharp decline in viewership compared to its ratings from 2023.

Keegan Bradley emerged victorious at the Castle Pines Golf Club in Colorado, notching up a -12 over the tournament's four rounds.

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However, the event only attracted 2.446 million spectators across NBC, the Golf Channel, and Peacock's streaming service.

This represents a stark drop of more than 20 per cent from the previous year when despite a similar setup and time slot, the tournament managed to entice 3.034 million viewers.

Rory McIlroy has been vocal about the damages inflicted by the PGA Tour's ongoing battles with LIV Golf, stating, "If you look at the TV ratings of the PGA Tour this year, they're down 20 percent across the board. 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 also reflected that the ongoing disputes are wearying audiences: "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."

In 2023, Victor Hovland stormed to a nine-under in the final round, finishing at -17 overall and surpassing Scottie Scheffler who was in second place at -15. Matt Fitzpatrick, McIlroy, and Xander Schauffele all made it into the top 10.

The 2024 BMW Championship also saw its fair share of big names with Tommy Fleetwood, Schauffele, and McIlroy all finishing within the top 12.

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However, the BMW Championships are not the only event struggling with declining viewership. Even major tournaments have been affected, with The Open Championship experiencing its lowest ratings in ten years.

This year's Masters only surpassed two other tournaments in terms of viewership over the past 30 years, namely the Covid-impacted 2020 and 2021 editions. The 2024 FedEx St Jude Championship earlier this month only attracted 2.211 million viewers, a significant drop from the 3.207 million who tuned in in 2023, marking a 30 per cent decrease.

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