The PGA Tour is riding a wave of excitement in the 2025 season! For instance, Rory McIlroy‘s Grand Slam is generating buzz, and was the biggest highlight of the season, until recently, something even more amazing happened. PGA Tour’s current hot streak now includes Justin Thomas, who just snagged a victory after a staggering 1,064 days, and did something that Scheffler couldn’t, despite his amazing 9 wins in 2024. Analyst Josh Carpenter points out that both McIlroy and Thomas are benefiting the Tour more than World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, and he has solid data to support his claim.

The iconic Harbour Links signature event, the RBC Heritage, recently celebrated Justin Thomas’s first win in three years, but the 16th PGA Tour win didn’t come easy for the star golfer. Competing against Andrew Novak in a playoff, Thomas secured his victory with a 21-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole. The result? According to the latest report by Josh Carpenter, the final round on CBS attracted 4.36 million viewers, marking the event’s largest audience for the event since 2002! The weekend average also soared to 3.3 million, reflecting an impressive 62% increase from the previous year when Sceffler had won. Furthermore, early round coverage of the RBC Heritage on Golf Channel drew 536,000 viewers on Sunday, setting yet another record for the event.

For comparison, during Scottie Scheffler’s win in 2024, the Tour recorded 2.151 million viewers for the final round of the RBC Heritage. In 2023, Matt Fitzpatrick‘s victory over Jordan Spieth in a playoff at the RBC Heritage attracted 4.152 million viewers. So, viewership is definitely not dependent on the drama slayer. However, this isn’t the first time the World No. 1 has been overshadowed this year.

The Masters Tournament followed a similar trend, with the 2025 final round averaging 12.7 million viewers. This figure not only made it the most-watched final round of the Masters since 2018 but also the most-watched golf telecast during that time. In comparison, the final round at Augusta National in 2024 attracted 9.589 million viewers, reflecting a 20% drop from Jon Rahm’s 2023 Masters win, which drew 12.06 million viewers. This wasn’t the first time a Rory McIlroy win overshadowed Scottie Scheffler’s presence this season. At the 2025 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the final round on CBS averaged 3.3 million viewers.

Interestingly, Scottie Scheffler was the defending champion in both of these events (the RBC Heritage & the Masters Tournament). However, just because Scheffler’s final rounds haven’t generated high viewership numbers doesn’t mean everything is going poorly for the two-time Masters champion.

Scottie Scheffler has yet another historical record in his name

Scottie Scheffler’s finish at the RBC Heritage (T8) may have been just as disappointing as his 2025 Masters finish (4), but the golfer continues to set major records during a winless 2025 season. How is he doing it? It’s quite simple. Scottie Scheffler is about to spend his 100th consecutive week as No. 1 in the OWGR, becoming the second golfer in history to achieve this after Tiger Woods. The GOAT, for his part, spent an incredible 281 weeks at the top of the OWGR and another 264 weeks in a different period.

Scottie Scheffler first reached No. 1 in the OWGR on May 23, 2023, and has held that position ever since. While Rory McIlroy may be threatening his spot in the rankings with three wins this season, Scheffler’s impressive performance in 2024 will likely keep him at the top for the time being. Additionally, last Tuesday, Scheffler became one of only three golfers in history to hold the No. 1 ranking for a cumulative total of weeks, joining Tiger Woods and Greg Norman. He now stands alone in third place with 136 weeks!

Scottie Scheffler will next play at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson at TPC Craig Ranch. He missed the event last year because his son was born that same week. Will he set the same records as his fellow Tour players? We will see!