Golf Is in TV Ratings Hell & Nelly Korda Holds Key to Solving the Crisis

Back in 2022, Max Homa and Kevin Kisner were playing against Danny McCarthy and Nelly Korda in the QBE Shootout. “I think I called her the Tiger Woods of the LPGA Tour at one point,” Kisner said later. “I don’t know how she does not win every week,” wondered Homa. Two years later, these words seem prophetic. Korda is winning week in and week out. After the first round of the Chevron Championship, she is T2. When told about Homa and Kisner’s comments two years ago, Korda quipped, Maybe they should watch women’s golf more.

The problem was that there was no proper coverage. And there was not much noise around it either.

The situation has dramatically changed this year. More so in the past few weeks. For what Korda is doing is unprecedented. And quite naturally, her thumping footsteps have echoed far beyond the LPGA’s frontier.

Nelly Korda has transcended boundaries

During Korda’s third consecutive victory, Golf Channel chose to broadcast the PGA Tour Champions’ Galleri Classic instead of the Ford Championship. The Ford Championship only received a paltry 45 minutes of coverage. And by that time, the 25-year-old was already in the late stages of her final round.

Moreover, it was ‘interrupted’ by commercials and promotional videos. Last year, the US Women’s Open was snubbed in favor of the QBE Shootout. But the noise was a decibel lower than this time, as fans called out Golf Channel and NBC for the strange decision to run PGA Tour Champions instead of Korda’s historic win.

Per the Washington Post, the LPGA Tour received around 4 million eyeballs, including streaming and TV coverage, around this time in 2022. Comparably, in the past few weeks alone, it has peaked at 11 million. 

Rose Zhang explained the phenomenon. “Yeah, I don’t think I can put a scale to what she’s accomplished. That’s honestly just such an incredible feat. There is only one Nelly Korda, and I think she really shows how she’s the best right now in the game.” Korda’s first-round playing mate and defending champion, Lilia Vu, has already dubbed her the ‘Caitlin Clark’ of the LPGA Tour.

Should Korda do more to improve the situation?

Stacy Lewis, her Solheim Cup captain, believes the world no. 1 might know her influence can be far-reaching. But at the same time, she might not want to exploit it. Lewis, who has been a world no. 1, knows the added pressure that limelight brings with it.

“I would tell her to do as much extra stuff as you can for us. We got to continue to push our TV partners to help us get more coverage.” Her advice is to “give the media a couple hours every week. That’s what she’s going to have to start doing.”

Korda, though, has already been doing that. She has always fielded questions well. Asked directly whether she feels she has more responsibility, Korda said the best way she could grow the game is to stay true to herself. That would be enough. World No. 1 takes time to engage with the media and the fans outside the course. She has appeared on a number of social media shows and podcasts around golf.

PGA Tour-LIV Golf divide provides a good opportunity for the LPGA Tour

The PGA Tour has experienced cascading rating downgrades. WM Phoenix Open, one of the PGA Tour’s mainstays, has witnessed a sharp decline of 35%, 5% at the Genesis Invitational, 30% at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, and 15% at THE PLAYERS Championship. 

It’s not that the fans have transferred to LIV Golf. On the contrary, the Saudi-backed side is fighting a separate coverage battle. As seen from this angle, there hasn’t been a better time for the LPGA Tour.

Firstly, since Tiger Woods and Annika Sorenstam in 2005, the golf world hasn’t witnessed such dominance from both sides. Moreover, the seemingly no-show from a large section of the Tour’s top draws has pushed aside casual viewers. There is very little chance of catching a hoard of star players unless it’s a signature event. There are only eight of those. 

With the major championship season kicking in, a better time is hard to come by. Last year, Chevron Championship views peaked at 1.54 million on NBC. The final round drew an average of 941,000 spectators. Allison Corpuz’s US Women’s Open triumph netted 2.2 million at its peak. The average viewership stood at 1.58 million. It’s time for the LPGA Tour to step up the marketing game… just like Nelly Korda has stepped on the gas this year!