The TV ratings for professional golf just took another weird turn, and honestly, the gap is getting hard to ignore. We’ve spent the last couple of years hearing about "growing the game" and "disrupting the model," but when you look at the raw data from the most recent Sunday showdowns, one thing is glaringly obvious. LIV Golf loses big to PGA Tour in Sunday viewership, and it’s not even particularly close.
It's kinda wild when you think about the names involved. You have Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau, and Brooks Koepka—literal titans of the sport—grinding it out on one side. On the other, you might have a PGA Tour leaderboard featuring guys like Thomas Detry or Andrew Novak. Yet, when Sunday afternoon rolls around, the American public is still voting with their remote controls. The disparity isn't just a slight edge for the established guys; it’s a landslide.
The Brutal Reality of the Sunday Ratings Gap
Let’s get into the weeds of the numbers because that's where the real story lives. During several head-to-head windows in the 2025 season and heading into early 2026, the PGA Tour has been averaging roughly 3.1 million viewers for its final rounds on CBS and NBC.
In contrast, LIV Golf’s numbers on Fox and its sister cable networks have been struggling to stay above the 400,000 mark.
Basically, for every one person watching a LIV event, about 15 to 18 people are watching the PGA Tour. Even when LIV put its best foot forward—like the Miami event at Doral where Marc Leishman held off a charging Bryson DeChambeau—the peak audience on Fox hit about 484,000. That same day, a "standard" PGA Tour event in San Antonio pulled in 1.75 million people on NBC.
👉 See also: Why the Marlins Won World Series Titles Twice and Then Disappeared
It’s a massive gulf.
The move to Fox was supposed to be the "antidote" for LIV's visibility problems. Remember when they were on The CW and everyone said the platform was the problem? Well, the switch to a major sports broadcaster hasn't exactly lit the world on fire. When LIV events get bumped to FS1 or FS2 because of other sports programming, the numbers crater even further—sometimes dipping as low as 60,000 viewers. That is basically local access television territory for a product that cost billions to assemble.
Why the "Star Power" Argument is Failing
You’ve probably heard the argument that fans want to see the best players. On paper, LIV has them. But Sunday viewership tells a different story about what "best" means to a casual fan.
- The Stakes Matter: Without a cut and with the team format still feeling a bit "exhibition-y" to many, the tension of a Sunday back nine on the PGA Tour is hard to replicate.
- The "Channel Surf" Factor: PGA Tour events benefit from decades of "appointment viewing." Fans know where to find CBS and NBC.
- Digital Fragmentation: LIV fans often point to YouTube and their app, LIV Golf+, as the "real" metric. While those numbers are higher (some events claim millions of views), they don't carry the same weight with advertisers as Nielsen-rated linear TV.
The truth is, golf fans seem to crave the tradition of the PGA Tour more than the individual celebrities they lost to the rival league. When Brian Harman is holding off a field of "who's that?" at the Valero Texas Open, people still tune in because the tournament feels like it matters in the context of the FedEx Cup and the historical record.
✨ Don't miss: Why Funny Fantasy Football Names Actually Win Leagues
The Logistics Problem Nobody Talks About
We have to talk about time zones. It’s a huge factor.
LIV is a global tour, which sounds great for "globalizing" the game, but it's a nightmare for US television ratings. If the final round is happening in Adelaide or Riyadh at 3:00 AM Eastern Time, you can't expect a massive Sunday afternoon rating in the States. The PGA Tour has the luxury of being a domestic product that owns the "post-lunch, pre-dinner" Sunday window in America.
Also, the "shotgun start" format—while great for people at the course—actually hurts TV viewership. On a traditional tour, the leaders go off last. The drama builds over five hours. With a shotgun start, everything happens at once and ends at once. You don't get that slow-burn build-up that keeps people glued to the screen for an entire afternoon.
Is There a Silver Lining for LIV?
It’s not all doom and gloom, though. If you look at the in-person experience, LIV is actually doing some things right. Their attendance in places like Adelaide, Chicago, and Indianapolis has been through the roof. They are selling out "festival" style environments that the PGA Tour often struggles to emulate outside of the WM Phoenix Open.
🔗 Read more: Heisman Trophy Nominees 2024: The Year the System Almost Broke
"The fans in these cities are charged up to attend a pro golf tournament, but they don't seem as willing to watch LIV Singapore on a tape delay," noted one industry analyst during the 2025 season wrap-up.
There is also the digital angle. LIV's YouTube engagement is genuinely impressive. They've mastered the art of "snackable" content—quick highlights, behind-the-scenes clips, and mic'd up players. For a younger audience that doesn't sit through four hours of a broadcast, LIV is winning the "vibes" war. But vibes don't pay the $500 million annual bills that the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) is currently footing.
Actionable Insights for the Future of Pro Golf
The viewership war has reached a stalemate that is hurting everyone. Fans are tired of the "schism," and it's showing in the overall numbers. Even though the PGA Tour is winning the head-to-head battle, their total numbers are still down from the pre-split era.
If you're following this saga, here are the key takeaways for what comes next:
- Watch for a "Unified" Calendar: The only way to fix these ratings is to get the best players back on the same screen more than four times a year (the Majors). Negotiations between the PGA Tour and PIF are still the most important story in sports.
- The "Fox Test" has a Deadline: If LIV's ratings on Fox don't see a significant jump by the end of 2026, the league may have to rethink its entire distribution strategy or go "all-in" on a proprietary streaming platform.
- Sponsorship follows Eyeballs: Until LIV can prove it has a consistent TV audience in the millions, blue-chip American sponsors will likely stay on the sidelines, regardless of how many fans show up at the gate in Australia.
The reality is that while LIV Golf has changed the economics of the sport forever, it hasn't yet changed the habits of the average viewer. For now, the PGA Tour remains the king of Sunday afternoon, even if the crown is a little heavier than it used to be.
To stay ahead of the curve on golf's business side, keep a close eye on the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) points situation. If LIV players continue to slide down the rankings and miss out on Major Championships, the "star power" they currently rely on will slowly erode, making the viewership gap even harder to close in the years to come.