LIV Golf Obliterates Recent PGA Tour Outings Amid Jay Monahan’s Dire ‘Strategic’ Attempts to Save Ratings

It appears LIV Golf is slowly gaining momentum. If such a statement were made back in December 2023, then not a single person would have agreed to the same owing to the poor TV ratings that plagued the circuit. However, fast forward to the third month of 2024, and the Saudi-backed League seems to have found its footing following the end of its third event.

A tweet was shared by NUCLR GOLF just recently, divulging the number of viewers that tuned in during the recent tournament that took place in Jeddah. Meanwhile, one can’t help but notice that the figures seem to have helped the breakaway league propel past its counterpart in the sport, none other than the PGA Tour.

Greg Norman one-ups the PGA Tour

The report disclosed by the social media handle mentions how Will Staeger, the Chief Media Officer of LIV Golf, revealed the number of views that Caffeine TV managed to rake in during the PIF-funded circuit’s tournament in Jeddah. As per the details shared, the streaming platform delivered a figure of 4.5 million views during the third event that took place at the Royal Greens Golf & Country Club over 3 days.

That’s not all. The Norman-led circuit was able to garner a total of 6 million viewers watching the same across all the platforms in the course of the event, much more than the numbers brought in by the Mexico Open. Moreover, surprisingly, the figures that have been released also include the number of people who tuned in for the post-round show following the second day’s play.

Interestingly, such a piece of news comes right after the Jay Monahan-led PGA Tour welcomed new investors including the likes of Chris Pratt, LeBron James, and Drake, among others in a bid to help revitalize the sport. They were reportedly roped in to take up the role of ‘strategic investors’ all the while committing capital to help the circuit increase its audience, TV rating, and viewership.

This signals nothing short of a win for the Norman-led league. However, simultaneously, such a report indicates a great blow to the Monahan-led circuit, which saw the event that took place in Mexico rope in much fewer members as opposed to its previous editions.

Setback for Jay Monahan and the PGA Tour

The Mexico Open in which Jake Knapp emerged victorious saw only 1.8 million viewers tuning in to witness him clinching the title, which, in turn, is much lower than LIV Golf’s 6 million views. However, the 2022 edition of the same, in which Jon Rahm was crowned the winner, saw more than 2.28 million people watching the match on TV, while 2.23 million tuned in for the following year.

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This is exactly one of the reasons why new investors were brought in for the Tour. The new capitalists would reportedly be using their marketing power to help the PGA Tour grow their business. Regardless, one can only commend LIV Golf for being able to grow its viewers and surpass its counterpart despite finding itself raking in low figures.

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