Professional Golf’s Post-Tiger Viewership Problem

In terms of sporting wonders, there may never be another spectacle to outshine the sight of vintage Tiger Woods—clad in his traditional final-round-Sunday red—overpowering a loaded PGA TOUR field, twirling irons as he strikes crisp approach shots, and delivering fist-pumps as clutch birdies drop.

From Tiger’s 12-shot victory at the 1997 Masters, to his 15-shot victory at the 2000 Pebble Beach US Open, to the 2005 duel in the Doral Open with Phil Mickelson, the 1997-2008 PGA TOUR reign of Tiger Woods was as captivating as eras come.  And television viewership reflected it.

Tiger Woods and caddie Steve Williams victorious after making chip on…

Tiger Woods and caddie Steve Williams victorious after making chip on No 16 hole during Sunday play at Augusta National. Neil Leifer F34 ) Get premium, high resolution news photos at Getty Images

Entering the final round of the 1997 Masters with a 9-shot lead, Tiger’s eventual 12-shot victory produced a HUT rating of 15.8/32—the tournament’s largest audience ever.  Woods’ three US Open victories—Pebble Beach in 2000, Bethpage Black in 2002, and Torrey Pines in 2008—produced Sunday audiences of 8.24, 10.75, and 7.83 million viewers: three of the US Open’s four largest audiences between the 1987-2008 period.

Tiger’s 2009 PGA Championship battle with Y.E. Yang at Hazeltine aggregated a Sunday audience of 9.60 million people, while the 2008 PGA Championship (in which Tiger was absent with a knee injury) accumulated a tawdry 3.13 million viewers.

Despite Padraig Harrington’s epic duel with Sergio Garcia at a historic Oakland Hills South Course, the 2008 PGA Championship’s poor viewership reflects that drama—even between high-billed players—doesn’t produce high television ratings if Tiger is absent.

Y.E. Yang of South Korea hits his tee shot on the ninth hole as Tiger…

Y.E. Yang of South Korea hits his tee shot on the ninth hole as Tiger Woods looks on during the final round of the 91st PGA Championship at Hazeltine National Golf Club on August 16, 2009 in Chaska,… Get premium, high resolution news photos at Getty Images

The lesson?  Big Cat’s presence on the golf course equates to massive television audiences.

During an era in which Tiger Woods played seven consecutive seasons (142 events) without missing a cut, the PGA TOUR could only celebrate the increased earnings and viewership.  Now, however, the narrative is more problematic.  As Tiger has not even completed a four-round tournament since the 2015 Wyndham Championship, PGA TOUR ratings have correspondingly suffered.

Compare the 5.33 television rating of the 2008 US Open—in which Tiger triumphed over Rocco Mediate in a dramatic Monday playoff —to the substandard 3.8 rating that the 2017 US Open garnered.  Even this year’s shrunken audience is an improvement from the 2016 US Open, which amassed an HH rating of 3.4 despite Dustin Johnson’s long-awaited major championship triumph over a loaded field of Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood, and Branden Grace.

Dustin’s win accrued the second smallest final round viewership of a United States Open Championship since 1987.  Again, as Padraig Harrington’s 2008 PGA Championship victory demonstrated—and Dustin Johnson’s 2016 US Open win corroborates—even the Tour’s biggest names can’t draw the same enthusiasm that Tiger could.

Sergio Garcia of Spain celebrates after defeating Justin Rose of…

Sergio Garcia of Spain celebrates after defeating Justin Rose of England on the first playoff hole during the final round of the 2017 Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club on April 9, 2017… Get premium, high resolution news photos at Getty Images

And the viewership problem is systemic in all four majors.  Despite showcasing a dramatic playoff battle between Sergio Garcia—who inveterately struggled to win his first major victory since the 1999 PGA Championship—and Justin Rose—the 2013 US Open champion—viewership of the 2017 Masters Tournament was its lowest since 1980, producing a miserable 6.8 HH rating.

Compare 2017’s poor viewership to the 12.0 HH rating of the 2010 Masters Tournament—which was highlighted by Tiger’s high-profile return to competitive golf following the infidelity scandal—or the 15.8 HH rating in Tiger’s 1997 Masters debut.

Justin Thomas of the United States poses with the Wanamaker Trophy…

Justin Thomas of the United States poses with the Wanamaker Trophy after winning the 2017 PGA Championship during the final round at Quail Hollow Club on August 13, 2017 in Charlotte, North Carolina…. Get premium, high resolution news photos at Getty Images

Even Justin Thomas’s final round 68 in the 2017 PGA Championship—which included four back-nine birdies en route to his maiden major victory—failed to draw a sizeable audience.  Nielsen evaluated the final round at a 3.2 HH rating, the lowest viewership score that the PGA Championship has received since 2008—which was, interestingly, also another year in which Tiger was absent at the tournament.

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Certainly, Jordan Spieth’s victory in the 2017 The Open Championship at Royal Birkdale, which garnered an HH rating of 3.2 (an improvement of 146% from the previous year), provides some hope for golf networks—but the viewership was still minuscule compared to the 5.0 HH rating that Tiger’s 2005 triumph at St. Andrews aggregated.

This trend is especially surprising considering how talented the American cohort of professional golfers has been the last several years.  While European and Australian golfers flourished in the post Tiger Woods void that comprised much of 2009-2014 (remember when Luke Donald, Lee Westwood, and Martin Kaymer were World Number One?), the three PGA TOUR seasons since 2015 have yielded American winners in eight of the twelve major championships contested during that period.  Of the four tournaments that Americans did not win (the 2015 PGA Championship, 2016 Masters Tournament, 2016 Open Championship, and 2017 Masters Tournament), all but one produced an American runner-up.  Even the Official World Golf Rankings reflects this American preeminence.

For the first time since 2010, the world’s top three ranked golfers each hail from the United States—world number one Dustin Johnson, followed closely behind by Open Champion Jordan Spieth and PGA Champion Justin Thomas.

Tiger Woods during the second round of the 1997 Masters Tournament at…

Tiger Woods during the second round of the 1997 Masters Tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club on April 11, 1997 in Augusta, Georgia. Get premium, high resolution news photos at Getty Images

Ultimately, the PGA TOUR is confronted with devising a solution to its post Tiger Woods viewership problem.  Despite the recent—and generally optimistic—developments in Wood’s potential return to competitive tournaments, the Tour is presented with the debacle of appealing to viewers in the post-Tiger era.

At age 41, whether injured or healthy, far fewer years of international competition remain on Tiger’s horizon than appear in his rearview mirror—signaling that professional golf will soon be permanently contested in Wood’s absence.  If 2017’s dramatic performances in the major championships couldn’t entice the same viewership that vintage Tiger Woods did, it remains a legitimate question what will.  More specifically, if the young and talented paragons of modern golf—Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy, Rickie Fowler, Jason Day, and others—can’t cajole American audiences to watch golf again, the PGA TOUR will be hard-pressed to find marque players that can.

Tiger Woods walks to the 14th green during the first round of the…

Tiger Woods walks to the 14th green during the first round of the Quicken Loans National at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club on July 30, 2015 in Gainesville, Virginia. Get premium, high resolution news photos at Getty Images

Cover Photo via Wikicommons