Jay Monahan and Co.’s Recent Sentry Decision to Avoid Coverage Clash Paints a Bleak PGA Tour Future

PGA Tour was already drawing flak due to its lackluster coverage of The Sentry at the Plantation Golf Course in Kapalua. And now it seems they aren’t doing themselves any favors. The first event on the golf calendar missed the prime time slots for the first time. At this year’s edition of Kapalua, viewers may have noticed the broadcast times are earlier than they have seen over the past decade or so. Even the final round wrapped up in the evening, totally failing to showcase one of the best courses on the Tour to a prime-time audience. Shockingly, this decision was a result of the PGA Tour’s fear of the NFL. But why was the compromise made when the Tour had a star-studded field to keep the audience hooked?

This weekend, the PGA Tour opted to move up television coverage of The Sentry to avoid running up against Week 18 of the NFL season. Andy Johnson, of Fried Egg Golf Podcast, stated that this displayed a lack of confidence by the PGA Tour in its own product.

Does the PGA Tour think it has an inferior product?

The Tour wanted to avoid a clash with the NFL at all costs. This is why the top brass considered getting off the air earlier as a necessary compromise. “NBC, the rights holder for the Kapalua tournament as well as Sunday Night Football, created a scenario where the PGA Tour couldn’t place the finish of their tournament on network TV,” Fried Egg Golf podcast quoted a section of their newsletter on X (formerly Twitter).

He noted that the PGA Tour’s move sends the wrong message to its fans. “The PGA Tour’s fear of going up against the NFL might be rooted in data and analytics, but that data doesn’t factor in the message it sends to fans. This strategy effectively tells the world that the NFL’s product is superior.” More importantly, Johnson asks, “How can you ask viewers for their time and attention (or sponsors for money) when you’re admitting you have an inferior product?” 

Last year, the NFL recorded 17.2 million average viewers per game, compared to the Tour’s 2.59 million average views on CBS. But let’s not forget that this was Week 18 in the NFL. The frenzy of the first week has diluted. A chunk of fans have left their couches as their teams are no longer in playoff contention. Notably, the Sentry featured 35 of last year’s winners and 24 from the top 50 in the FedEx Cup points list.

The problem first arose when the NFL changed to an 18-week schedule. Previously, to avoid the week-one NFL clash, the Tour overhauled “the golf calendar in order to avoid running the FedEx Cup Playoffs against that behemoth of a sports weekend.” Once again, changing the broadcast times betrays a lack of confidence from Jay Monahan & Co. in their product. This move does them little favors, as fans have also hit out at the PGA Tour for its coverage of Sentry.

Fans annoyed at Sentry coverage due to frequent commercial breaks

Fans watching golf’s first event of the year were left annoyed because of the frequency of commercial breaks in between. They tweeted their frustrations and even called out the broadcasters for their poor coverage. They criticized the coverage for being less about golf and more about ads.

One fan on X wrote, “I have just watched 2 days of coverage of the Sentry Tournament. They have shown more commercials than golf shots…”

Another fan also shared his grievance and wrote, “The golf coverage today has had so much fashion-focus. And surfing. Fashion and surfing.”

Not only this, some fans also pointed out the alleged bias in coverage, with more time given to American players as compared to Europeans. Expressing this sentiment a fan questioned whether there were any European players at the event,

All in all, it is not an ideal start for the PGA Tour, and given the revelation behind their decision to broadcast Sentry early due to the NFL, it could further dent their reputation. As Andy Johnson pointed out, they will have to believe in their product and “prioritize that belief over appeasing membership.” Indeed, when the Tour is already on the back foot after LIV Golf’s arrival and sundry other sponsorship troubles, this lack of faith might prove to be costly in the long run.

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