2024 PGA: The Cutmakers
Hovland, Morikawa, Lowry, McIlroy, Theegala and Blockie. Plus, mixed bag ratings, ESPN, the OWGR, Valhalla's setup, juiced iron lofts, Johnson Wagner, Dick's Sporting Goods and more.
It’s time to celebrate those nuanced, mixed-bag, bit-of-everything weeks from 2024’s PGA Championship.
Viktor Hovland. He’s back! With a twist. The Las Vegas Mayo Clinic visit was long overdue. It’s not often someone wins $34.6 million in a year and cans the coach. Joe Mayo is back and the Valhalla tee-to-green performance was dazzling as was the scrambling (13 of 16). The putting was serviceable enough that Hovland faced a 12-footer to shoot 64 and join the 20-under-brigade. Instead, he hit it four feet by, missed that, barely shook Bryson’s hand, and did not talk to the media after his round. The constantly-stressed, borderline manic approach is not a recipe for long-term success. Chill out! You’re really good at this. And with plenty in the bank.
Collin Morikawa (T4). Another major championship smoke-and-mirror effort after starting Masters Sunday in the final pairing. This one is heartening because the putting was not great and a player renowned for his approach play missed too many greens and had 34 putts Sunday. When he did make a pure strike, Morikawa averaged a solid 34’8” in proximity and he got up and down 17 times in 21 opportunities. So now that he’s wisely back with his longtime coach Rick Sessinghaus and hanging around majors with his B- game, a clean-up of the big approach misses, four okay putting days and you’re looking at a candidate to win at Pinehurst. Also, nice touch standing back and applauding for fellow southern Californian Schauffele after the winning putt.
Shane Lowry (T6). The fifth 62 in a major and second in strokes gained putting even after losing over a stroke to the field Sunday with the putter. Making 461’9” of putts is really something, particularly when all but 68’11” of that square footage came in rounds one through three:
Sahith Theegala (T12). He had to birdie two of his last three just to post a final round 73 and go from the second-to-last pairing to a T12. But it’s rare to contend and win majors without going through a few of these and this was the former Hogan and Nicklaus Award winner’s first legit shot at winning. Even better, this happened in a week when his short-game magic was completely lacking (-1.411 SG Scrambling) and driving was just okay. The putting and iron play have him ready for Pinehurst.
Rory McIlroy (T12). A solid performance given Monday’s news of divorce filing and a Valhalla setup where his prodigious length seemed like less of an asset since winning there a decade ago. The odd run of just missing in majors continued at Valhalla, this time by peaking a few days too soon during a dominant Wells Fargo win. The good news? Life circumstances and ShotLink numbers say he should not have finished -12 (T12). McIlroy only got up and down 12 of 20 times around greens where leaders posted absurd recovery rates. He hit 38 of 56 fairways on a course where he enjoys driving the ball. Most incredible of all, McIlroy finished 12-under-par playing the par 4’s only 1-under-par to Schauffele’s -10, DeChambeau’s -9 and Hovland’s -9. Best news of all, the PGA returns to Quail Hollow in 2025.
Blockie (MC). You are to be admired for turning your T15 minutes of fame into what seemed like 15 years by the time one ad ran too many times. Congrats on wringing every last drop out of last year’s fantastic finish. Now, please, make it stop.
Ratings. On the plus side, there was none of this year’s 20% dip seen at Tour events (prior to Rory McIlroy’s Wells Fargo win). The Masters viewing number drop now looks legit in blaming its 20% non-Easter out-of-home drop. According to Sports Media Watch, the final round of Xander Schaffule’s win peaked with 8.42 million viewers for the winning putt. The 4.96 million average audience translated to a 10% increase in viewership over last year’s Koepka win at Oak Hill. This, despite going up against the huge Pacers-Knicks Game 7. Saturday’s fog-delayed third round on CBS (2.0/3.52 million) faced off against the Preakness Stakes and a Caitlyn Clark WNBA game, yet still managed a slight 4% uptick over last year.
The bad news? 2024’s PGA tops only two recent PGA’s in final round viewership: 2017 (4.91 million) and last year’s Koepka win were the lowest in the past 12 years.
Ratings II. ESPN's numbers also showed stability compared to the season-long downward trend of PGA Tour coverage on Golf Channel and the networks. Thursday’s eight-hour first-round broadcast on ESPN averaged 1.118 million viewers for a 4% increase over last year. The second round fared better with a likely boost from Friday’s Scheffler arrest drama, averaging 1.6 million viewers, an increase of 18 percent. The first-ever ESPNBET telecast on ESPN2 averaged 323,000 viewers Friday between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., up from 164,000 average viewers. And No Laying Up’s alternate telecast from 1-3 p.m. Friday on ESPN2 averaged 155,000 viewers, up from 89,000 on Thursday. For some perspective on just how much Brian Roberts’ Comcast has cratered Golf Channel: Saturday night’s Live From show saw an average of just 118,000 viewers, while Sunday’s edition featuring Xander Schauffele fresh off a thrilling finish saw just 104,000. Not long ago those shows did four to five time that.