“If you look at the leaderboards, you look at the ratings, I felt like they worked in 2023, and for whatever reason, they’re not quite capturing the imagination this year compared to last year,” said a worried Rory McIlroy at the PLAYERS. Well, he was not completely wrong. The Tour has faced a distinct drop in the viewership rates, and field audience too. Looks like now, the troubles are returning.

The 2024 Sanderson Farms Championship began on October 3 at the Country Club of Jackson, with not much gap after the Presidents Cup. The field, in fact, only has Nick Dunlap from the top 50 players on the Tour as players like Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele are not part of the field. To add to the misery of the $7.6 million event, there have been continuous withdrawals.

Even before the event could begin in the first place, the withdrawals had started flowing in. Ahead of the event, Anders Albertson withdrew and was replaced by Martin Trainer. As the opening round started, J.J. Spaun added his name to the list of withdrawals from the field after completing the first eighteen holes, carding a 3-over.

Just a few hours later, Parker Coody completed his front nine and cited a wrist injury. He could not play any longer and was forced to withdraw. Well, it looks like the second round has only made the list longer. Ahead of the Friday round, Chad Ramey too cited a wrist injury from consecutive swings and withdrew from the event. While he did it before the round could commence, Taylor Montgomerie’s withdrawal was not the same.

The American professional concluded his first round with a disappointing 2-over. The Friday round only kept getting worse. He began the front nine with a double bogey and gave up after the first four holes, ending with another double bogey.

Well, the Sanderson Farms Championship, to begin with, was already competing with another ongoing event parallel to its date that has some big names.

2024 Sanderson Farms Championship collides with Alfred Dunhill Links

The DP World Tour already had its event scheduled from October 3 to October 6 at the Old Course, St. Andrews. Now this is not just any event. Joining the PGA Tour and the European Tour Pros will be fourteen of the best LIV golfers, like Brooks Koepka, Jon Rahm, Tyrrell Hatton, and more. Since the 2024 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship collides with the likes of the Sanderson Farms Championship, a lot of the big names are missing from the Mississipi field.

From DP World Tour’s top player Rory McIlroy to Robert MacIntyre, Pádraig Harrington, and Tommy Fleetwood, they will all be competing in Scotland instead of playing at the Country Club of Jackson.

So, which event are you following? The PGA Tour’s or the DP World Tour’s? Let us know in the comments section below!