The Torrey Pines witnessed one of the closest battles for the titles this season on the PGA Tour. Moreover, the day started with Swedish golfer Ludvig Aberg in third place and two strokes of the lead. The topsy-turvy final day saw the lead change hands multiple times before a marauding Maverick McNealy hit 8 birdies in the first 11 holes, to establish intent and inherit the sole lead. The 29-year-old looked set to win his second PGA Tour event, but it would not be his day. Ludvig Aberg weathered the intense pressure to overcome a stern Maverick McNealy challenge to claim his second PGA Tour victory. Yet, the cameras caught Rory McIlroy.

The 25-year-old had to score a birdie in the final hole to inherit the sole lead and did so in style. Even with a thrilling conclusion, CBS Sports’ broadcasting decisions frustrated golf fans. The broadcast network was handling the coverage of the Final Round at the Genesis Invitational. Notably, golf viewership recently hit a high at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am after a sensational triumph by Rory McIlroy. So this may answer the reasons for the cameras fixated on Rory.

The Pebble Beach event had the biggest viewership of any final round at the event since 2021’s victory, reaching 3.3 million viewers. McIlroy’s victory gave CBS the most-watched PGA Tour broadcast since the final round of The 2024 Players Championship. But despite the high two weeks ago, the Genesis Invitational broadcast left a lot of unanswered questions. The fans were particularly miffed that the broadcast focused majorly on out-of-contention players rather than depicting where the action was.

Fans disappointed by the CBS coverage of the Genesis Invitational with excessive Rory McIlroy coverage

Rory McIlroy did not have a day to remember at the Torrey Pines Golf Course. He was far from challenging for the top spot and only made two birdies and finished on par for the day and 9 strokes off the lead. Despite that, he was a frequent broadcast presence. Of course, the fans voiced their opinion on X.

One netizen did not mince his words on X, “Genesis and PGA with the worst coverage of all time today. Showing Rory -4 missing putts meanwhile haven’t seen Ludvig Aberg in an hour and a half.” Now, the preferential treatment could be because McIlroy had more fans than Ludvig Aberg. But, what CBS and the PGA Tour need to understand is that competition trumps everything else. There are McIlroy fans out there because of his competitiveness. Therefore, moving away from showing the actionable sequences and focusing on players who are not competing seemed like a self-inflicted wound from the Tour’s side. Another fan stated, “We saw more Rory than Ludvig. The bias is annoying.”

The interesting fact is that this is not the first time that the broadcast’s been caught lacking. And Rory McIlroy was at the receiving end then. During the broadcast change between Golf Channel’s early coverage and the CBS broadcast at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, many fans missed McIlroy and other top performers at holes 6 and 7 at Pebble Beach. The repeated infarctions on the broadcast front are leaving several fans frustrated. Just like this one fan exclaiming, “Ludvig Aberg just birdied the Par 5 13th to pull within two shots of the lead and @CBSSports didn’t show one of his shots. They showed the Eagle putt about 5 minutes after. Too busy covering Rory Mcilroy’s approach shot on 17 despite being 7 back. Terrible coverage.”

Golf Digest Writer Christopher Powers called out CBS on X, as they forgot about Aberg completely during stretches of the broadcast. Aberg was involved in a crazy battle with American golfer Maverick McNealy during the final stretches of the tournament. McNealy was leading by 2 strokes heading to the 14th hole at the South Course, but a remarkable stretch of birdies from Aberg tilted the competition in his favor. Despite the exciting head-to-head face-off, CBS let the viewers down with their choice of broadcast. “CBS absolutely buried Ludvig from coverage. About to be a solo second. Haven’t seen him since his 3rd shot on 9?”

Top Comment by Mac

Biasness is not a word. Shouldn’t writers know proper English??

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Both Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas started 5 strokes off the lead during the final round. As the rounds progressed, neither seemed likely to catch up to the top of the leaderboard. However, CBS insisted on showing their shots more than Aberg’s. Another fan was also furious at the network’s error, especially during a high-stakes signature event. “@CBSSports and @PGATOUR are so damn embarrassing. They showed Rory and JT, while not showing Ludvig once for about 8 holes and he ends up winning. Pathetic a– broadcast”

The broadcast needs to do a better job of improving the quality of the golfing content out there. Biasness towards fans makes sense when nothing is exciting going on. What do you think?