2024 has been terrible for the PGA Tour with regard to TV ratings. The premier golf league led by Jay Monahan & co. has been in the limelight over various negative subjects like the slow pace of play, bad policies, a money-focused approach, and an overall degradation in product quality.

But you can’t discredit them from trying. While still in competition with LIV Golf, the PGA Tour is also trying to come to terms with Saudi PIF in hopes of merging with LIV. Moreover, the added funding from Greg Norman’s league will help Jay Monahan offer a more lucrative product for pros and fans alike.

While there has been no progress in the merger, the competition between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf is proving to be detrimental for the former. In an attempt to make up for their losses, the American Professional Golf League has introduced some unofficial events to attract more fans and hype up the 2025 season.

As stated by @practicalgolf on their X account, “So we’ve got: • TGL League • Skins game coming back • Scheffler/Rory vs Bryson/Brooks • Potential LIV/PGA Ryder Cup format” These promising events may help the PGA Tour increase their TV ratings. @practicalgolf also questioned, “Golf is trying to diversify formats. Will it save dwindling ratings? Or is this just a decline no one can stop?”

The TGL is a project of Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy. However, the rest of the events seem like a desperate attempt by the PGA to stay relevant. Considering that they are still the premier league in the professional golf circuit, it would have benefitted them if they listened to the opinions of the fans instead of indulging in these gimmicks.

The Skins event has not been a part of the PGA Tour since 2008. While it’s a great way to keep the pros on their toes, it doesn’t add any value to official golf progression. The monetary gains from the event will be the only driving factor for the pros who have failed to achieve much success recently. The crossover event between LIV Golf & the PGA Tour; Scottie Scheffler & Rory McIlroy vs Bryson DeChambeau & Brooks Koepka match is quite exciting for the fans as it brings ahead four of the best players from both leagues in an exciting contest for ultimate superiority. However, the PGA Tour is still compromising with its competitors in Saudi to make it happen. The LIV Golf/PGA Tour Ryder Cup format tournament seems like a total waste considering the abundance of talented individuals available with Jay Monahan & co. to overpower LIV Golf.

While all these steps will have an effect on the TV ratings, it’s safe to say that they won’t convince the fans enough to follow the entire season of golf. Not many in the golf community would want to commit to a degrading product. So what can the PGA Tour do to actually get better ratings?

How can the PGA Tour get better TV ratings?

Introducing new formats may have a larger impact on the crumbling popularity of PGA Tour events if Jay Monahan and co. improve on the major issues at hand. When the new field size policy proposal came to light, fans stated their frustration with the negative route taken by the PGA Tour. They criticized how the pace of play issue could have been rather resolved by implementing stricter regulations against slow players, something that Greg Norman and LIV Golf have been managing better in their two years of existence. Instead, the PGA Tour decided to reduce the field size and ensure the fans get to see the same frustrating slow players ruin the flow of the game in every event.

The golf community also didn’t appreciate how other pros from Korn Ferry League and young talents from Q-schools would have to pay for the actions of higher-ranked slow players. The new policies limit the opportunities for new players to get into the PGA Tour, a criteria that was already quite restricted. Under the new policy, the number of promotions from the Korn Ferry Tour will be dropped from 30 to 20 every new season. The PGA Tour cards allotted to top Q-School candidates will be changed from five and tied to a cap of just five per season. Interestingly, the LPGA Tour, which usually tries to imitate the PGA Tour, has also been in the spotlight for sluggish players recently.

What do you think Jay Monahan’s PGA Tour can do to encourage viewers to tune in to events? Share your views in the comments section.