Anthony Kim Rebranding Steered Greg Norman Clear From Jay Monahan’s Biggest Headache

December 2023 is a month Greg Norman would probably want to forget. The reason: the release of a report detailing the poor TV ratings that plagued LIV Golf. However, just two months later, the breakaway league seems to have found its footing, all thanks to a golfer who was dubbed as ‘the Next Tiger Woods‘; none other than Anthony Kim.

While the professional’s return may not have been as glorious as he had imagined, his comeback has affected the golf world in other positive ways. Moreover, it has gone ahead to give the Saudi-backed league a respite from the biggest headache that the Jay Monahan-led PGA Tour is facing right now!

Greg Norman finally tastes an Anthony Kim-flavored win

Although Kim is currently at the bottom of the scoreboard at Jeddah, with a 6-over par 76 on the first day, his presence has undoubtedly helped the league rake in many viewers on the first day of play. A tweet was shared by LIV Golf Enthusiast on their X handle, divulging the numbers for the same; “769k views on Caffeine TV & 181k views on YouTube.”

That’s not all. The post went ahead to express its disbelief at how the PIF-funded circuit has gone ahead to bring in that many people to watch the round on a weekend on just two handles. Elaborating on the same, it asked, “Are you telling me LIV Golf got over a MILLION views not counting LIV Golf + & LIVGolf dot com & the CW app?”

However, the recently ended Mexico Open saw the Monahan-led circuit severely falling behind itself as it saw only 1.8 million viewers watching Jake Knapp win on Sunday. Interestingly, the 2022 edition of the tournament, which saw Jon Rahm emerge victorious, saw figures of 2.28 million. Meanwhile, the 2023 edition saw 2.23 million viewers. Surely a concerning dip for the Tour.

Anyhow, such a win was much needed for the Australian entrepreneur and his breakaway league. This is especially true when the circuit saw itself lagging behind the PGA Tour back in 2023 when they couldn’t manage to keep the attention on themselves.

Poor LIV Golf ratings in 2023

The Monahan-led circuit was able to surpass the Middle Eastern league as the latter could only manage roughly 200,000 viewers, a mere one-ninth of the people who watched the PGA Tour event on CBS and NBC in the weeks that showcased LIV on CW. What’s more, signing a deal with CW, a network that does not have any prior noticeable sports programming, along with not streaming every round on TV, led to its downfall in 2023.

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There’s more. Changing the business model of the breakaway league just a year after its inception, which was comparatively more well-received than the second season, also added to the effect. Regardless of the past, it appears Norman can finally breathe a sigh of relief as the comeback of an icon on the greens, coupled with Rahm’s scintillating performance on Day 1, has helped him ease up on his coverage woes.

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