TV numbers’ worry for PGA Tour continues as Genesis Invitational ratings fall 5% from last year

The Genesis Invitational was slated to take place from February 22 to 24, 2024. The television coverage of the Sunday round was split between Golf Channel and CBS from 1-3 pm ET and 3-6:30 pm ET respectively.According to recent reports, ratings for the Sunday round television coverage fell 5% from the previous year, when Jon Rahm took home the victory. The overall number of viewers for the final round of 2024 was 3.2 million, whereas the total number of viewers for the final round of 2023 was 3.4 million.

Genesis Invitational ratings on Sunday were down 5% from last year (3.2M vs. 3.4M in ‘23)

The Genesis Invitational’s opening round with Tiger Woods and Jordan Spieth did not attract many viewers, with only 450,000 tuning in – a 51% drop from 2023. Both golfers later withdrew – Woods due to illness and Spieth for a scorekeeping mistake.   Woods, the event host, was also absent on the final day.The PGA Tour faced similar issues during the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, with play delayed by bad weather and coverage focused on the LIV Mayakoba event, which drew 432,000 viewers.  

However, when CBS aired a replay of the Pebble Beach third round, interest in the PGA Tour quickly rebounded.    The final day of The Genesis Invitational took place on Sunday, February 18th. Patrick Cantlay was leading with a two-stroke advantage after 56 holes.  

However, he struggled on the last day and ended the round at 1 over par, finishing the event at 13 under par and tying for 4th place with Adam Hadwin and Xander Schauffele. This opened up opportunities for Hideki Matsuyama to climb to the top of the leaderboard.  

Matsuyama finished the round at 9 under par, achieving consecutive birdies on holes 1-3, 10-12, and 15-17.

The Japanese golfer ended the event with a total score of 17 under par, winning a $4,000,000 cash prize and 700 FedEx Cup points.  

Matsuyama mentioned in an interview with CNN that his back injury had prevented him from reaching the top 10 for a while. 

“After my eighth win, I’d been struggling with my back injury. There were a lot of times where I felt I was never going to win again. I struggled reaching to top-10, but I’m really happy that I was able to win today.

Following Matsuyama, Luke List and Will Zalatoris stood in the T2 position by scoring a total of 14 under par at the Riviera Country Club. They were just three strokes behind on the leaderboard.