Rory McIlroy proven correct over LIV Golf warning after controversial weekend at The Open

Rory McIlroy's concerns about dwindling TV ratings for major golf events seem justified, as The Open recorded its lowest viewership in nearly a decade .

The tournament at Royal Troon saw Xander Schauffele triumph, securing his second major championship of the year so far - finishing two strokes ahead of his nearest rivals, though it was not without its controversies .

His final round performance at the iconic Scottish course allowed him to stave off challenges from Justin Rose and Billy Horschel to clinch the win.

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Despite the exciting action over the weekend, the 152nd Open Championship saw a drop in ratings on American networks NBC and Peacock. In fact, the 3.39 million who tuned in marked the smallest audience for the event since 2015, recording its worst ratings in almost a decade on Sunday and a four per cent decrease from the previous year.

This seems to be part of a trend that has been noticed recently, with viewing figures generally falling across the sport. Similarly, the final round at the Masters this year saw a 20 per cent drop in viewers, with CBS drawing a reported audience of 9.589 million.

The stats are backing up McIlroy's previous alerts about the waning interest in golf's big prizes , with telly numbers taking a nosedive. The Northern Irish golf ace pointed out: "If you look at the TV ratings of the PGA Tour this year, they're down 20 per cent 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."

"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. 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."

Despite previously slagging off players who jumped ship to the LIV Golf tour, McIlroy seems to have taken a wider view of late. The champ of four majors has owned up to wanting the game itself to flourish, despite the internal strife that's been kicking off lately.

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He shared his thoughts: "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. It would be much better being together and moving forward together for the good of the game."

LIV CEO Greg Norman spoke out about the ongoing golf debate during his appearance on the Fairway to Heaven podcast. He expressed appreciation for McIlroy's changed stance, stating: "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."

"He judged us based 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."

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