LIV Golf viewership figures on CW finally topple those on the PGA Tour

More golf fans tuned in to watch the final round of LIV Golf Chicago than the final round of the Procore Championship on the PGA Tour.

Andy Roberts

18 Sep 2024

Jon Rahm won both LIV Golf titles on Sunday

An estimated 20,000 more golf fans tuned in to watch the final round of LIV Golf Chicago over the Procore Championship on the PGA Tour last Sunday.

According to Sports Business Journal's Josh Carpenter who provided a latest update on X / Twitter, an approximate 89.000 viewers were locked in for Jon Rahm's three-shot victory in Chicago that also saw him capture the season-long Individual Championship.

Only an estimated 69,000 watched Patton Kizzire cruise to victory at the Procore Championship in Napa, California.

The tournament marked the first event of the new FedEx Cup Fall.

The PGA Tour's latest viewership figure is some 220,000 less than last year's final round of the same tournament when Sahith Theegala landed his first title.

Carpenter considers this year's final round overlap with the Emmy's likely played some part in the drop off in figures.

The final round of the Procore Championship finished more than three hours after the conclusion of LIV Golf Chicago.

More golf viewership from Sunday: 69,000 on Golf Channel for Patton Kizzire's win in the Procore Championship.

A big drop from last year, which saw 298,000 for Sahith Theegala's win (this past Sunday did have a slight overlap with the Emmy's). pic.twitter.com/SSedQCyR7D
— Josh Carpenter (@JoshACarpenter) September 17, 2024

LIV Golf beat PGA Tour for viewership figures on Sunday

Either way, it marks the first time ever that LIV Golf has toppled the PGA Tour for final round viewing figures solely through its CW network.

The latest figures do not include numbers through the LIV Golf App or its YouTube page, so you could argue LIV Golf absolutely trounced the PGA Tour for total viewership over the weekend.

Although LIV Golf beat the PGA Tour for viewership over the weekend, Golf Channel analyst and one-time PGA Tour winner Brandel Chamblee believes the latest figures being announced on the Saudi-backed circuit are well under what they would have anticipated.

"Despite billions of dollars for golf megastars, LIV remains in the witness protection program of sports viewership," tweeted Chamblee, who has heavily criticised LIV Golf since its inauguration in 2022.

"Partly because they are trying to “scale” the county-fair motleyness of the 16th hole at the WM Phoenix Open and the Seve-like passion of the RyderCup, they fail, not least for the lack of innovation of their ideas but also for the origin of their investment."

Scroll below for Chamblee's tweet...

Despite billions of dollars for golf megastars, LIV remains in the witness protection program of sports viewership. Partly because they are trying to “scale” the county-fair motleyness of the 16th hole at the WM Phoenix Open and the Seve-like passion of the RyderCup, they fail,… https://t.co/OCoUdPKtLB
— Brandel Chamblee (@chambleebrandel) September 18, 2024