The Masters’ viewership has decreased from previous years, and although Rory McIlroy suspects it’s due to the ongoing LIV saga, Wyndham Clark is uncertain.
According to Wyndham Clark, it is illogical for viewing figures to have decreased at this year’s Masters. Rory McIlroy attributed the decline to the ongoing controversy between LIV Golf and PGA Tour.
Monday’s announcement spelled out a distressing reality for golf enthusiasts: the viewership of last Sunday’s final round at the year’s inaugural major championship had plummeted by 20%. This troubling statistic serves as cause for concern, particularly given that it reflects an ongoing trend throughout recent PGA Tour events – Augusta National is not alone in this struggle.
In addition to the decline in attendance at Augusta, there was a substantial decrease of 35 percent during the final round of February’s Waste Management Phoenix Open. The Arnold Palmer Invitational suffered a downturn by 30 percent and March’s Players Championship experienced a drop of 15 percent as well.
Recently, McIlroy has become embroiled in the long-lasting conflict between the Tour and its adversaries from LIV. He opines that this stalemate could have repelled golf enthusiasts as evidenced by a 20% dip in PGA Tour’s ratings across all events this year, according to his statement last month.
A fifth of the audience isn’t insignificant, and it’s concerning that LIV doesn’t seem to be attracting many viewers either. The constant fighting in recent years seems to have tired out audiences, leading them away from men’s professional golf – a trend with negative consequences for everyone involved.
“It will be intriguing to observe how the four major championships or even three of them perform, excluding Augusta which seems to exist in a league of its own.”
Although the 33-year-old expressed a certain view, U.S. Open winner Clark holds an opposing opinion after being caught unaware by the decline of professional game interest; he contests that off-course politics have had no adverse impact on levels of interest.
At the RBC Heritage event, Clark expressed disbelief about the ratings decline stating that being at the tournament is a delightful experience. He further added that individuals he knows who watched it had enjoyed it and believed golf to be on an upward curve with increased sales and memberships.
Clark suggests that the decrease in TV viewership at a professional level is not logical. Rather, he believes that fans are shifting towards streaming platforms to watch televised events. Clark further argues that this shift could be due to people accessing games from unconventional sources instead of traditional broadcasts.
In my view, the stat is a bit distorted as it’s illogical for every aspect of the game to progress except at the professional level. That’s just how I see it. Clark will commence his week at Harbour Town on Thursday and has been paired with fellow American Sahith Theegala.
