If Americans won’t tune in en masse to the Masters, the yearlong trend in declining viewership of professional golf must be real.
Weekend TV ratings for the 88th Masters fell 20 percent compared with last year’s event at Augusta National Golf Club, crossing a virtual red line in the downward trend this year.
CBS TV’s audience for Sunday’s final round of the Masters on April 14 averaged 9.589 million viewers, down significantly from the 12.058 million who watched in 2023. It was the first tournament of the year to attract the game’s top players amid the PGA Tour’s ongoing dispute with LIV Golf and, according to recent commentary from Global Golf Post’s Ron Green Jr., would be viewed within the industry as a key marker for the game. The audience who watched American Scottie Scheffler win a second green jacket in three years was the smallest for the Masters’ final round since 2021, when 9.64 million saw Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama win.
Among the potential reasons for the downturn in what annually is the most-viewed golf tournament of the year:
The machine-like Scheffler, who lacks the outsized personality of some of golf’s most colorful characters and fan favorites, sucked the drama out of the back nine at Augusta, pulling away for an eventual four-stroke victory.
Tiger Woods was not in contention and had finished by the time CBS came on the air.
More golf fans are migrating from live TV to other platforms, notably streaming services and the tournament’s robust Masters.com website.
Mild weather across much of the nation gave golfers an option to play rather than watch.
Nonetheless, the Masters still attracts the largest audience of the year and remains the gold standard for viewership. READ MORE
A former employee at Augusta National Golf Club has been charged in federal court in Illinois with stealing millions of dollars of Masters merchandise and memorabilia in a 13-year period, the Chicago Tribune reported. Richard Brendan Globensky, 39, of Augusta, Georgia, allegedly transported the Masters gear pinched in 2009-22 across state lines to Tampa, Florida. READ MORE
Gordon Sargent, who has risen to the top of the amateur game, will defer PGA Tour status for one year and return for his senior college season at Vanderbilt, he announced last week.
In October, Sargent became the first collegian to secure an 18-month PGA Tour exemption through the PGA Tour University Accelerated program for underclassmen. That exemption will commence in June 2025.
“It’s been an honor to represent this university alongside my teammates and coaches,” Sargent said in a Vanderbilt news release, “and I look forward to continuing to compete – and further my education – at this amazing place that has given so much to me.”
A 20-year-old junior economics major from Birmingham, Alabama, Sargent won the 2022 NCAA title as a freshman and is No. 1 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. He has won a school-record six times at Vandy and has led the Commodores to 20 team titles.
Sargent has represented the United States in numerous international competitions in recent years, notably compiling a 4-0-0 record in September in leading the Americans to victory in the Walker Cup at St. Andrews. As winner of the McCormack Medal as the world’s top-ranked amateur, Sargent received exemptions into this year’s U.S. Open at Pinehurst and the Open Championship at Royal Troon.
He wrote a first-person essay explaining his decision for Golf Digest. READ MORE
TAP-INS
Stephanie Sparks, a former Golf Channel on-air host best known for her roles in the “Big Break” reality series, died April 13. She was 50. No cause of death was cited in her obituary. Sparks played one season on the LPGA, in 2000, after an amateur career that included a spot on the 1994 U.S. Curtis Cup team and a college career at Duke. READ MORE
A company backed by entertainer Justin Timberlake bought 112 acres in suburban Nashville, bringing its holdings to 475 acres as it intends to build an 18-hole private golf course called Bounty Club, according to The Tennessean newspaper. The Farm Nashville, a limited liability company which lists Timberlake as a partner, is affiliated with 8AM Golf, which owns Golf.com, Golf Magazine and the Nicklaus Companies course-design firm, according to the report. From 2008 through 2012, Timberlake hosted the PGA Tour’s annual Las Vegas stop, which bore his name. In 2009, he bought and renovated a course in his hometown of Memphis that he renamed Mirimichi and subsequently sold. READ MORE
Compiled by Steve Harmon