Can the 2023 PNC Championship Topple the LPGA Tour Amid Recent Coverage Boom?

The PNC Championship is all set to provide an exciting competition between golfer’s families. And so, it has become a highly-anticipated event among the many fans in the golfing world, even going so far as to garner more attention than certain events on the PGA Tour. However, this naturally piques our interest. Will this tournament, which runs on family bonds, be more popular than the LPGA Tour?

Although the women’s circuit has been behind its men’s counterpart when it comes to the aspect of viewership, it has nevertheless progressed a lot. But even so, this naturally raises the question – what about the PNC Championship and does it hold a candle to any of the events on the Women’s tour?

PNC Championship vs LGPA Tour: A study of numbers

It is an indisputable fact that women’s golf, including the many tournaments on the LPGA Tour, has experienced much progress over the years. And, this has especially been the case with the aspect of coverage and viewership as the situation became a bit better in 2023, followed by a deal with a networking giant, ESPN. However, when compared to the PGA Tour, it severely falls behind. Well, what if we add the upcoming event to the mix?

The LPGA Tour attained its peak viewership over the recent years at the 2023 U.S. Women’s Open when NBC reports revealed the major to be its most-watched edition since 2014. What’s more, the final round of the tournament was able to average 1.58 million viewers while peaking at 2.2 million. A true milestone for women’s golf.

However, during the 2021 edition of the PNC Championship, the viewership of the special tournament on Saturday was able to average a 1.4 rating, at 2.34 million viewers on NBC while managing a 1.3 and 2.24 million audience on the next day. However, in the following year in 2022, the competition averaged 2.29 million people watching the same with high ratings. The winner is obvious here – none other than the PNC Championship!

However, it is worthwhile to think about what pushed the parent-child tournament to gain so much popularity. Well, the answer is pretty easy – the return of Tiger Woods to the greens!

The Tiger Woods effect on PNC Championship viewership

The Hall of Famer’s accident and his subsequent return in 2021 to the competition after rest piqued interest in the minds of people, tripling the numbers from two years back. And, the Woods team losing the top spot by two strokes would have undoubtedly been an entertaining and close round to watch.

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Coming to the previous year’s event, a similar case occurred when Mr. T and his 14-year-old son leaped on the greens. Surprisingly, many people logged in to watch the same averaging 2.29 million. Thus, it does spell good news for the network with the legend and his son set to make yet another appearance after his comeback from the 7-month-long hiatus. And, the community would also be hoping for a win from the duo, leading to another set of huge numbers.

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