The Presidents Cup, held in Canada, didn’t attract as many viewers this year compared to the previous edition.
Despite the exciting moments and intense competition at Royal Montreal Golf Club, where Team USA led by Jim Furyk defeated Mike Weir’s International team for the tenth consecutive time, fewer people tuned in. The match had its share of drama, especially with Tom Kim’s clash with Scottie Scheffler.
Yet, according to Nielsen ratings reported by Sports Business Journal, viewership was down 28% on NBC from 2022, with only 1.37 million watching on Sunday instead of 1.89 million. Saturday’s numbers also dropped significantly from last year’s event at Quail Hollow.
Golf Viewership Trends:
The tournament started with Team USA taking a strong 5-0 lead on Thursday. However, the International side responded fiercely on Friday with their own 5-0 sweep, leveling the contest before Team USA eventually won 18.5-11.5. Despite these thrilling developments and heated rivalries like Kim vs. Scheffler, it seems fans expected more excitement.
Interestingly enough, even major golf events have seen a decline in TV audiences recently. For example, The Masters experienced a drop in viewers this year too.
Scottie Scheffler’s victory at Augusta National saw a significant decrease of 20% in viewership during the final round while his win at The Players Championship had 17% fewer viewers than before. Xander Schauffele’s Open Championship triumph hit a nine-year low for audience numbers with a slight dip compared to last year.
Fans might wonder why such exciting tournaments are seeing fewer viewers lately.
Even though Bryson DeChambeau’s thrilling win over Rory McIlroy at the US Open had slightly lower figures than in 2023, it still attracted millions of viewers—5.9 million to be exact—showing that interest remains high for major events despite some dips.
In contrast to these big tournaments drawing large crowds on TV screens—like The Masters pulling in nearly ten million viewers—the Presidents Cup hasn’t quite captured people’s attention yet as much as organizers hoped it would.
What do you think about these changing trends?
