The Arnold Palmer Invitational had it all—thrills, and surprises! Rickie Fowler and Jordan Spieth missed the cut, while Scottie Scheffler left fans wanting more with a T11 finish. Finally, we saw World No. 7 Russell Henley achieve the best win of his career on Sunday at the Bay Hill Golf Course. Sounds good so far? Well, fans have more than one reason to celebrate this monumental conclusion to the API, and it all relates to the PGA tour’s viewership.

If you have been following the Tour events, you know that Jay Monahan has faced significant backlash for the declining viewership, despite the large sums of money spent on broadcast rights. For instance, American Express recorded a 57% drop in viewership on the Golf Channel this year. However, it saw an increase during the Genesis Invitational, attracting an average of 1.6 million viewers on CBS. Essentially, the Tour has experienced both ups and downs.

But in recent developments, things seem to have changed slightly—enough to cause an uproar among PGA Tour fans! The PGA Tour has media rights deals with three of the biggest media houses in the world right now: CBS Sports, NBC Sports, and ESPN+. It looks like NBC has brought some good news for the incredibly dry years in the PGA Tour.  According to Josh Carpenter, Business Sports Journal reporter, NBC has drawn the biggest view in recent times. “NBC drew 2.807M viewers for Russ Henley’s win on Sunday, up from 2.291M last year when Scheffler ran away with it. Prior two years were 3.259M (Kitayama) and 2.825M (Scheffler).”

Josh Carpenter discussed the viewership details last year as well. The year seemed amazing for Scottie Scheffler; however, the final round’s viewership worried fans. Carpenter reported that a total of 2.291 million viewers tuned in via NBC’s broadcast for the final round, marking a staggering 30% decline from the previous year. According to GolfWRX journalist Max Vincenzi, the third round also experienced a drop, with the average viewership on NBC reaching 1.76 million, a decline of 21%.

Back in 2023, Kurt Kitayama’s win attracted a whopping 3.259 million viewers. This number was once again higher than Scheffler’s 2022 API win, which drew 2.825 million. But with the win back in the hands of the PGA Tour, what are the fans saying? Well, quite a lot!

PGA Tour fans loudly celebrate another win

Josh Carpenter’s “look, guys, the PGA Tour isn’t doing so bad” post quickly garnered loads of fan reactions. While most fans eagerly celebrated the win itself, some didn’t shy away from comparing the PGA Tour to LIV Golf regarding viewership. Take a look at the first comment. It’s quite savage: “The war’s over man. Let LIV get their 12k viewers to watch that slop. Zero need for any reconciliation.” According to multiple sources, LIV Golf’s final round on FS1 and FS2 drew a paltry 54,000 and 31,000 viewers, respectively. However, Thursday’s opening round saw a staggering 12,000 viewers on FS2. Though harsh, the statement holds true.

The second fan said, “This can’t be accurate; according to the LIV trolls, the PGA Tour is dying.” As mentioned before, the viewership war between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf continues unabated. Let’s compare it with the LIV Golf data we discussed earlier. The PGA Tour’s WM Phoenix Open final round attracted a whopping 2.87 million viewers on CBS, marking a 36% rise from last year. Consequently, LIV Golf was outdrawn by a staggering factor of 50! Inarguably, better than LIV Golf.

Another fan seemed hopeful: “More good news for the tour as they continue to see weekly increases in their year-over-year numbers. This is a great sign for the tour and its partners and a reason for more potential partners to consider working with the PGA Tour.” The PGA Tour is already collaborating with three major media houses, as we mentioned before. With the merger seemingly approaching and LIV Golf struggling, the Tour is likely to attract more partners.

The other two fans took a more laid-back approach. “Not terrible,” one of the fans said, joining in on another comment that read, “All the Dawgs watching!” The Arnold Palmer Invitational was certainly an exciting event to watch. The final round featured names like Collin Morikawa (2), Michael Kim (4), Corey Conners (3), and Keegan Bradley (5). The excitement was definitely in the air.

But what do you think will happen at The PLAYERS Championship? Will it draw the same attention?