The addition of Caitlin Clark in the Pro-Am tournament of The Annika 2024 has garnered a lot of attention from various media outlets. Partnering with world no. 1 Nelly Korda, Caitlin Clark not only impressed fans with her strokeplay but also inspired the pro with her attitude. Everyone was in awe of the kind of impact the 22-year-old had during her short stint on the course.

What was even more impressive was the star power of the WNBA player. Her appearance in the event managed to attract a lot more viewership for the Pro-Am tournament than expected. So it doesn’t come as a surprise when she became the topic of discussion during a podcast.

D.J. Piehowski, Tron Carter, and Randy sat down for a conversation about everything that is making news in golf in the past couple of days. The trio discussed Rory McIlroy equalling Seve Ballesteros’ record and top 100 golf courses among other things.

While in conversation the No Laying Up Podcast hosts landed on the topic of WNBA star Caitlin Clark and her recent appearance at The Annika 2024 Pro-Am tournament partnering with Nelly Korda. That’s when Randy mentioned, “What’s different about women’s basketball and golf?” Comparing the two, he added, “Naturally, more people will care about basketball than they will golf” as he addressed that the former is more popular of the two sports.

Reflecting on its popularity, Randy also mentioned how much interest it garnered from its investors. Speaking about the broadcast partners of the sport, Randy said, “Women’s college basketball and now the WNBA; you saw broadcast partners that were very invested in building the product.” He added, “That is the black hole of women’s golf right now,” trying to explain that women’s golf does not get similar interest from broadcasters nationwide. Randy further stated that the LPGA Tour won’t find success “Until they get a broadcast partner that truly cares about elevating the product.”

The No Laying Up host then suggested that LPGA can try to distinguish themself to gain that kind of attention from the broadcasters. “Quit trying to be a version of the PGA Tour,” said Randy as he suggested, “Take some swings. Be different.” Supporting Randy’s comments, D.J. further added, “Same goes for the Korn Ferry Tour, same goes for the DP World Tour.” Suggesting that the other tournaments could also follow this strategy while they still “play the 72-hole stroke play events.”

It’s an interesting suggestion coming from the insiders as this will help the Tours gain better viewership and increased popularity. While we are on that topic, let’s compare the numbers garnered by the PGA Tour as compared to other Tours.

How many fans tune in for golf events?

In 2024, the PGA Tour averaged 2.8 million viewers in the final round of each event. The number varies from tournament to tournament. When it comes to the LPGA, its total viewership over the four days of the event averages about 3.6 million.

While the DP World Tour has seen a rise in viewership in recent years, reports say that it still has a lot fewer viewers than the LPGA Tour. The numbers for LIV Golf are far worse as they get about 300,000 viewers per day. There is not much data available for the Korn Ferry Tour.

It’s interesting to see how the viewership falls when the PGA is not involved. It wouldn’t hurt the rest of the Tours to try something different to attract more viewers.