LIV Golf delivered another exciting final day this season, with Joaquin Niemann securing his third victory of the year as he came from three shots back to beat Bryson DeChambeau in Mexico City.
It was a decent return for LIV Golf following The Masters. Bryson DeChambeau led heading into the final round at Club de Golf Chapultepec, while Cam Smith and Jon Rahm were amongst those who found themselves in the chasing pack.
For the third tournament running, DeChambeau could not get anything going on Sunday. And that allowed Joaquin Niemann to come through and win. Unfortunately, it did not prove to be a successful week for LIV as a whole.
There was a good opportunity, with the Zurich Classic of New Orleans one of the more underwhelming events on the PGA Tour. The event at TPC Louisiana definitely lacked star power.
Fans worried for LIV Golf after Mexico City event
Nevertheless, it seems to have been another victory for the PGA Tour when it comes to viewing figures. Josh Carpenter reported on X that LIV averaged 110,000 viewers on FS1 during the final round. Meanwhile, the Zurich Classic averaged 1.631 million viewers in the first few hours on Sunday, before that number rose to 2.3 million later on.
Given that LIV had plenty going for it, many golf fans appear to think that the viewing figures are ominous for the league. One wrote: ‘Disastrous. Not sure how they can improve at this point, as it’s clear fans are not watching or supporting the product. This is especially troubling given the names they had at the top of the leaderboard heading into Sunday AND with the PGA Tour having the technical issues they had with their final round. This is going to be REALLY hard to explain away.‘
Another wrote: ‘Just when you think it can’t get much worse for LIV. It somehow does‘. Someone else said: ‘If they can not pull more with that leaderboard and the blackout/rain delay on the PGA, then it is just not going to happen‘.
Certainly, some think that it is going to be difficult for LIV to recover, with one fan writing: ‘This might be the most damning numbers yet, specifically with that leaderboard. Blow it all up.’ Someone else agreed, claiming: ‘Just end the misery. It will never get traction.’
Another seemed surprised, posting: ‘I thought for sure this was the week to at least come close to beating the pga tour…a nothing event with a rain delay and technical difficulties and liv still got crushed… Liv is not a sustainable business. Pif can keep it operational and pour $ into it but never recoup‘.
Finally, there were a couple of short but brutal summaries elsewhere, with one describing the news as ‘humiliating‘, and another posting: ‘Genuinely pathetic numbers‘.
The PGA Tour embarrasses LIV Golf once again after Miami disappointment
It is important to say that there are factors which have to be taken into consideration. Fans can watch LIV events on their app, so the FS1 numbers only tell part of the story.
But the optics are still not at all good. LIV’s event in Miami also failed to compete with the Valero Texas Open, which saw Brian Harman win in arguably the most disappointing PGA Tour event since the west coast swing.
Perhaps those behind the scenes are content with the numbers. People associated with LIV appear to be happy to pat themselves on the back for where they have come in three years – ignoring that they are being backed by the PIF.
But if LIV cannot attract fans during an event which has a star-studded leaderboard on a course which has hosted WGC events in the past, then it is hard to see what the league can do to turn the situation around.
The PGA Tour is certainly not perfect, but it does seem to be in a strong position right now.
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