The AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am starts on the last Thursday of January. The signature event on the PGA Tour will feature a host of top golfers vying to win the $20 million purse at stake. And even before the first ball was teed off, the tournament saw some interesting developments.

The development comes from Rory McIlroy and his comments during the press conference of the Pro-Am competition, who was very candid when asked about the threat the PGA Tour faces from competing entities in the golf ecosystem. The Northern Irish golfer was questioned about whether entities like LIV Golf, TGL(of which he was a part), and YouTube Golf diminish the value of the golf PGA Tour offers.

Candid McIlroy opens up about the PGA Tour

“I think it already has been. You know, I think it already has been diminished,” the World No.3 professed when talking about the value the PGA Tour competitions bring to new golfing fans. The world is fast-evolving and with the advent of quick entertainment, attention spans are at an all-time low. Products like golf, which are time-consuming to watch, would be severely threatened. But that does not mean that the new generation does not like golf.

Rory McIlroy still likes the old golf that the PGA Tour currently offers. However, he understands that the new-age consumer is looking for something more dynamic. “But look, I would much rather sit down and watch real golfers play real tournaments and that’s just my opinion. That to me is more entertaining. But I understand that other people want something different and that’s totally fine as well. I think there’s space for all of this. Yeah, I can see when the golf consumer might get a little fatigued of everything that’s sort of available to them.” Kind of like a scenario, when ordering food on DoorDash or picking a movie to watch on Netflix. When you have too many choices, you might get stumped and go with none.

McIlroy also tapped into the success of the NFL, in that the reduced schedule allows for more focused viewing and relatability amongst the people. “So to scale it back a little bit and maybe have a little more scarcity in some of the stuff that we do, like the NFL, I think mightn’t be a bad thing.” Reports suggest that around 5.8 million people aged 18-34 have participated in off-course golf or simulators. A good number that the PGA Tour should look to tap into. However, if the product is not viable to hook people to the screen, they will lose the battle before it even starts.

“YouTube is like golf entertainment adjacent, whatever. Those guys are killing it. They found a niche and it’s really cool and it serves a purpose for a lot of people.” McIlroy explained further. The rise of YouTube golf is not just by accident. Padraig Harrington tapped into the growing world of fast consumption before Bryson DeChambeau revitalized it with his interesting content.

And it is not even the length of the video that matters. Most of DeChambeau’s views are for long videos rather than the ‘Shorts’. It is the quality of the content. Something that the PGA Tour is lacking.

Bryson DeChambeau’s YouTube Golf reinvigoration

The American Pro golfer has been lighting the YouTube Golf world on fire and has 1.7 million subscribers on his channel. His modus operandi of fun and entertaining videos has been drawing in several golf fans. His channel provides a perfect blend of short and long-form content and has roped in around 17.4m views for just June 2024.

DeChambeau‘s hole-in-one challenge, where he was trying to hit an ace in his home, was one of the main talking points across golf pages on social media. The relatability brought in viewers by the bucketload. When he finally made the shot, non-professionals followed suit, taking up the trend. A kid took up the challenge in his home and made it in six days compared to the sixteen it took Bryson DeChambeau.

DeChambeau even had a host of guests appear on his channel as part of a video series called ‘Break 50’. The big names include current president Donald Trump, fan-favorite John Daly, NFL legend Tom Brady, and a lot more. The catch is that people seemed to relate to golf more on a personal level rather than just seeing it at a professional circuit, something that the PGA Tour does.

This relatability is something that the PGA Tour could tap into. With dwindling viewership and lack of pace in the golf that is on display, the Tour needs a jolt in its arm to refocus and bring about changes. What do you think?