Major(s) News & Notes, April 25th, 2024
Grand Slam watches begin. Plus, Masters ratings and vault, Kiawah gets another PGA, U.S. Open entries and Local Qualifying underway, This, That, Quotables and Reads.
Days to the PGA Championship first tee shot: 21
Days to the U.S. Women’s Open Presented By Ally first tee shot: 35
Days to the U.S. Open first tee shot: 49
Days to the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship: 56
Days to the Open Championship first tee shot: 84
Days to the AIG Women’s Open Championship: 119
The Quad is determined not to steamroll the afterglow of two remarkable major wins even if there is intrigue in Rory McIlroy possibly coming back to the PGA Tour board as the lone candidate acceptable to suddenly outgoing seatholder Warren Buffett Webb Simpson. Couple that with this week’s latest example of making-it-up-as-they-go-in-Ponte-Vedra-where-they-also-want-to-rule-the-game-they-seemed-determined-to-destroy, The Telegraph’s James Corrigan reported equity stakes for those who resisted a chance to regularly experience the regal Royal Greens and spend time aboard the Crown Prince’s floating surveillance device mega yacht.
Well, that does for the weekly update on the rich and mostly-not-so-famous. Who knows what other debacles the purveyors of non-major golf are cooking up as they tussle over the terribly dull matter of who plays where in non-major weeks. So keep on doling out silly money to golfers who, other than Tiger, Rory and a handful of others, would not be missed if they quit the game to channel their previously unforeseen desire to open a model train shop or bring back Def Comedy jams. Or both.
Thankfully, we have more pressing matters to consider given Scottie Scheffler’s amazing run and Nelly Korda’s second major title after four straight wins. In an era of equipment-induced parity and silly money capable of making lesser players go soft, golf is on the legit Grand Slam watches since the early aughts.
Oddsmakers have put a Scheffler triumph as low as 30/1. On more sensible sites in the 40-1 to 60-1 range. With three legs to go, that number might seem absurd in any year given the vagaries of majors, tee time draws, Scheffler’s lack of previous experience at the forthcoming venues, and the belief he’s bound to cool off. But given the strengths of his game, absurd consistency, and the skills typically rewarded at the remaining three venues, oddsmakers may have it about right.
As for the remaining venues?
Valhalla’s last two winners produced the best player in the world as champions (Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy), and before that a short game wiz and grinder (Mark Brooks). Valhalla’s two Senior PGA winners were at their geezer peaks: Hale Irwin winning by one over Jay Haas in 2004 and Tom Watson over David Eger in a 2011 playoff.
Yes, the turfgrass has changed as has the time of year for this PGA (May to August), but conditions are only expected to get firmer and faster with the grass conversion. Scheffler should love it.
Pinehurst No. 2 will once again call on a bit of everything. But it’s no secret that an imaginative player around the greens stands a better chance of not losing patience with upside-down cereal bowls where even the best iron players are prone to miss more greens than they’re used to. Scheffler has shown he’s got as many shots around the greens as any top player in the world since Tiger. On the greens? Not so great but at Pinehurst that may not be a deal killer.
This leaves The Open at Royal Troon. The course is much longer than 2016 and more than some Open links should reward long drivers (at least based on who has contended there in the past). Scheffler’s Open record in three starts is fine by but might be substandard by his standards given how he seems to enjoy links golf and can handle windier days. He’s improved in each Open start (T23, T21 T8) and seems primed to go one step farther—assuming he’s not running on fumes by the time Troon rolls around.
One more note on Scheffler’s current run and his world ranking courtesy of Robopz on Twitter:
Nelly Korda’s task looks far more difficult given a five-major designation that features especially peculiar spacing between key events this Olympic year:
The Amundi Evian in France is July 11-14th.
The Paris Olympic golf (where she is the defending gold medal winner) will be played from August 7-10.
The Women’s Open in St Andrews starts August 22nd.
It’s hard to imagine Korda setting up shop overseas for almost two months, but it’s also not very appealing to fly back and forth to the States multiple times (and even less appealing to step outside in July or August in Bradenton). She would not be out-of-line to pass on the Evian in favor of preparing for the gold medal defense before playing the Women’s Scottish Open and Open at St Andrews. She’d still be eligible for a Grand Slam since that accomplishment has always been about winning four major championships (and since the Evian’s major designation came in the name of retaining sponsorship, not its incredible history or venue.)
This scheduling conundrum and the sheer difficulty of her task explains Korda’s 2500/1 odds at SportsBetting.ag.
Korda WD’d from this week’s JM Eagle LA Championship at Wilshire CC, citing the need to recharge after winning four straight over five weeks and anticipating a busy year ahead.
As much as we’re bummed in Los Angeles to not see her go for six straight, the weeks ahead promise to showcase two players doing special things. They might also inspire the competition. So for now we’ll tag along for the ride as long as the epic play lasts.
We discussed this and many more topics on the latest McKellar with The Guardian’s Ewan Murray.
Onto the latest news & notes…
Masters Ratings Follow-Up
Before we take the Nielsen overnights and analysis of talented writers too seriously: a warning.
As the final round of The Masters—THE MASTERS—started on Golf Channel, a 2 pm rerun of Playing Lessons with Rory McIlroy drew 395,000 viewers and a .24. Part 2 with Rory aired at 2:30 and dropped to a .13 with 212,000 viewers. Again, as the most watched golf telecast of the year was underway.
It really feels like a few Nielsen households watching pre-CBS Live From coverage woke up from a nap and eventually flipped over to The Masters.
In very stark contrast, the Sunday night “Live From” on Golf Channel wrapping up Scottie Scheffler’s win also drew a .13 and 213,000 viewers. That just doesn’t add up. No offense to what I’m sure was a spellbinding edition of Playing Lessons.
With that out of the way, on to the serious analysis of numbers that suddenly seem quite arbitrary.
SBJ’s Josh Carpenter looked at the various 2024 metrics to determine just how strong the “headwinds” are faced by golf and summed up the early season data this way:
Through 10 events, NBC is averaging 1.97 million viewers for its Saturday and Sunday rounds, down 16% from 2023. Golf Channel was at 385,000 viewers, also down 18% from 471,000 last year.
CBS had only aired five live tour rounds prior to the Masters (over three events), with the final 18 at Pebble Beach wiped out due to bad weather. But CBS still saw year-over-year declines for those events.
And he does say we’ll likely see more complete Nielsen numbers incorporating improved streaming data later this year.
But Nielsen is not standing pat, and later this year it's expected to tweak how it measures viewers. Nielsen has about 40,000 households in its panel, which translates to about 100,000 people -- and those measurements only come through panels. But Nielsen will start using ACR data and set-top box data from cable providers. With the new data, Nielsen should be able to pull numbers from around 25 million households.
Golf.com’s James Colgan broke down the Masters ratings decline and explained away possible mass migrations to streaming, the drop in homes reached, Easter Sunday accounting anomalies and various other possible loopholes. He ultimately could not find an explanation beyond the consistent audience departure seen in the 2024 decline of 20%.
Of course there’s a bigger audience out there. But I’d be stone-cold stunned if 20 percent of CBS viewers migrated to the Masters app in one year. More likely is that 20 percent of last year’s TV viewers decided they had better ways to spend their time.
“The final round of the Masters fell back under the ten million mark, topping only the two COVID-era years of 2020 and 2021 as the least-watched in more than three decades.
The disproportionately large drop in viewership is due to the fact that last year’s final round aired on Easter Sunday and benefited from larger out-of-home viewership. Out-of-home viewing boosted last year’s audience by 21%, compared to only 9% this year.
“This year’s final round only tops the two COVID-affected years of 2020 (3.4, 5.64M) and 2021 (5.5, 9.54M) as the lowest rated since 1957 and the least-watched since 1993.”
“Third round action on Saturday averaged a 3.7 and 6.60 million, up sharply from rainout coverage last year (2.2, 3.80M), but down 13% and 11% respectively from the last time the third round was played as scheduled in 2022 (4.3, 7.43M).
“CBS averaged 8.21 million for its two-day coverage of the Masters, down 9% from last year (8.99M), down 7% from 2022 (8.86M) and the lowest since 2021 (7.41M).”
Puck’s John Ourand talked to various unnamed media executives who are blaming the lack of back nine drama. Which, if true, suggests his sources are in total denial or intentionally spinning folklore since the broadcast audience peaked at 12.6 million as Scheffler finished off his second Masters win by four strokes.
The consensus is that the dip had less to do with champion Scottie Scheffler’s boring personality than a lack of drama in the final round. Scheffler’s Sunday win seemed nearly inevitable when he started the back nine, which gave CBS two hours of time to fill until he put on his new green jacket. And I’m sure it didn’t hurt that Tiger played the worst golf of his career after making the cut.
Ourand also notes the season-long dip and blames field dispersion, another problematic number given how few people are watching LIV’s events on the CW.
Look, professional golf has a lot of issues on television—almost all of which stem from the emergence of LIV Golf, which has watered down the field at most PGA tournaments. The PGA Tour’s viewership is down around 20 percent this year overall. But the majors, which feature the expats, should be immune from this atrophy.
Maybe people are choosing to play golf while telling us this post-Tiger generation is insufferable after two years of money talk as they play an unreliable, bloated, takes-forever and less soulful version of the game?
Just a theory!
Recently, they’ve traded their old connections with pro golfers on tour for the personalities taking off in a booming social media ecosystem for the sport. Is it a coincidence that YouTube channels like Bob Does Sports or Good Good have seen meteoric rises as the television product atrophies?
There may be no better example of the challenges presented by the so-called “attention economy” in sports than in golf. From a participatory standpoint, golf is more popular than ever after its pandemic-era growth spurt. With the influx of new players into the sport, it’s a wonder why more people aren’t tuning in to watch the pros. Maybe it’s more relatable to watch your favorite YouTuber hack it around for 18 holes in under an hour than it is to watch the stoicism-Olympics that is professional golf across a four hour commercial-packed television window. Moreover, the golf being played by the pros is foreign to the everyday player.
One last note: ESPN updated its initial “Fast Nationals” ratings with some tweaks and one big change.
7:45a-10a ET on ESPN – resumption of the First Round – 965,000 viewers up from the initial 922,000.
3p-8:02p ET on ESPN – Second Round – 3.7 million viewers (up from initial 3.6 million while two-day average remained 3.4 million.
Friday’s 1-3 pm ET “Welcome to the Masters” show had 961,000 viewers (up from 594,000 for Thursday’s lead-in coverage).
Kiawah To Host 2031 PGA Championship
I’m entirely sure why the PGA of America announced another PGA Championship for Kiawah Island the week after the Masters, but they did.
Receiving the next open date in 2031 date was a no-brainer given that the Ocean Course has become the best match with the PGA’s move to May where matching up climate, agronomics and markets has been dicier-than-expected.
The resort will also host the 2029 Girls and Boys Junior PGA Championships.
Having ironed out huge kinks since initially hosting the 1991 Ryder Cup and the 2012 PGA, Pete Dye’s seaside design offered a perfect test during the 2021 championship won by Phil Mickelson.
“We are proud to again be selected as the host course for the 2031 PGA Championship,” said Kiawah Island Golf Resort President Roger Warren. “The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island Golf Resort, Pete Dye’s brilliant seaside design, will present a formidable challenge for the strongest, all-professional field in major championship golf. We are confident our partnership with the PGA of America and the local community will produce another world-class event.”
U.S. Open Entries And Local Qualifying Underway
Local qualifying is underway for the 2024 U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2. Conducted at 109 sites in 44 states and Canada, the 18-hole qualifiers will take place from April 22nd to May 20th.
The USGA received 10,052 entries, the third time in championship history over 10,000 and just shy of 2023’s record 10,187. Preston Mohon, a 16-year-old amateur from Southlake, Texas, turned in the first entry on Feb. 21, while professional Brett Seward of Orlando, Fla., submitted his entry one minute and 47 seconds before the deadline.
The youngest entrant was 12-year-old Beck Patrick of Houston, Texas, while the oldest was Keith Crimp, a 74-year-old amateur from Ellensburg, Wash.
The results page includes links to the first five completed qualifiers.
The Masters Vault
If you’re still clamoring for more Masters, the “vault” (best accessed on the Apple TV app for mesmerizing near-4K resolution) will allow for a deep-dive into the week. Besides already posting all broadcasts from the week—including the final round that is usually held back—the app currently still houses multiple past highlight films and fun stuff from the week.
The standout for those who missed it: the hour-long recap of Tiger’s 2019 win titled “A Sunday Unlike Any Other.” Yes, there are some gratuitous Rolex drops to appease the sponsor (the Woods nightstand shot was especially charming). Overall, it’s a smart look at how that wild, weird Sunday came together in so many ways. The insights from caddie Joe LaCava and observations from CBS’s team help piece together how stars and talent aligned for Woods in his first come-from-behind major win.
This And That
Sunday’s rain-delayed RBC Heritage drew a 1.3 and 2.15 million average audience size on CBS. According to SportsMediaWatch.com, that’s down by nearly half from last year (2.5, 4.15M). The competing final round of the Chevron Championship on NBC earned a 0.6 and 900,000 average, down 3% in viewership from a year ago (0.6, 929K).
312 players from all 41 PGA of America sections begin play Sunday in the 2024 PGA Professional Championship. As usual, the top 20 spots earn an invitation to the PGA Championship. This is the tournament’s first time at Fields Ranch in Frisco and will utilize both East and West courses. The second, third and final rounds will be broadcast live on Golf Channel: 5-8 pm (ET) on Monday, April 29, and Tuesday, April 30, followed by the final round from 4-7 pm ET on Wednesday, May 1.
The official PGA Championships app is now live in the Apple App or Google Play stores. It covers the 2024 PGA Championship, KPMG Women's PGA Championship and KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship, and handles ticket management, scoring, alerts, spectator exclusives, video highlights within player scorecards and more. The app will provide live streaming of SiriusXM’s (coverage no sign-in or subscription required).
Early bird pricing ends Friday for AIG Women’s Open tickets into August’s championship over the Old Course. A weekend pass costs £75.00 per adult and £37.50 per youth with a free ticket for juniors 16-and-under.
A five day pass starts at £135.00 while weekday daily tickets are £37.50 and
£42.50 per weekend day.
Quotable
Nelly Korda on slow play during an appearance on No Laying Up’s Chevron Championship postgame show. “Honestly, I despise slow play. It drives me up a freaking wall. I just can’t stand it…But I kind of knew it was going to be a slow day, so I tried to not get ready for my tee shots or my approach shots or my putting until it was my time to go. So I made sure I was taking my time as well. Because if you’re ready then you’re (going to end up) overthinking it.”
Rory McIlroy on whether he was relieved last fall to leave the PGA Tour Board he may rejoin. “Yes and no. I would say that I've played some of my best golf while being a PGA Tour board member, so I don't think it really hindered me. It was maybe just taking away some time from me pursuing things or spending time doing things that I wanted to do at home, and having to hop on calls two, three times a week and just the whole thing started to take a toll, as it has on a lot of the players. We're golfers at the end of the day. We don't need to be trying to run a $15 billion business. We need to go out there and play golf and let the business people do the business things.”
USGA CEO Mike Whan on revisiting his first job in golf and staying in the business since working for Proctor and Gamble. “I remember my dad saying, ‘you don’t leave P&G for Wilson. Play golf on the weekends, but have a real job. I love P&G, but it’s hard to get passionate about tartar control. I can get passionate about golf.”
Greg Norman on attending the Masters. “To walk with the patrons, I've never done that before in my life anywhere in the world. I think I walked one playoff here in Australia when a friend of mine was in the Australian Masters. I walked with his family on the playoff hole. But it was incredible. The support, the recognition, the comments that were made, it was almost unanimous for three straight days walking around with people. I had people with me, so I do have witnesses to the fact that that's what it was. To see it and to hear it and to hear the comments they made about what's happening to the game of golf and the go that LIV has brought to the game of golf, it was very, very strong for me. It was a very powerful three days.”
Reads
🤩 Tom D’Angelo compares Nelly Korda and Scottie Scheffler’s recent five-event streaks of brilliance.
🐢 Joseph LaMagna on the latest slow play debacles and need for urgency to address the plague.
🇨🇳 Casey Newton on how the TikTok forced sale is unlikely to hold up in court.
🧑🎤 Ed Power on how Coachella became the worst music festival in the world.
So Scottie is a boring personality? Bill Belechick was a boring buy the NFL didn't loose viewers. Acting school for Korn Ferry grads? Want to increase viewership of the Zurich team competition? Should have invited Rocky and Bullwinkle. Boris and Natasha. Wiley Coyote and Dudley Doright.
Definition of equity payment: "non-cash pay/payment that is offered to employees." That means the PGAT players got squat. No real money. Just a fancy IOU ... that will be reneged on by the money changers of the SSG temple when the IOU comes due.
The fact the Masters ratings are down both Saturday and Sunday bodes poorly for the non designated events. I realize I have suggested the shotgun start but look it addresses so many problems such a weather and would allow more action and on time finishes. Which sporting events take 8 hours from start to finish? If 54 players qualified for the weekend we would see which players are slowing up the field. Don’t see why on reachable par 5s players are not waved up to avoid these bottlenecks. But waiting for equipment changes seems so far in the future, so what is the answer, more of the same? PGAT is really hurt by the amount on content available through streaming and cable and golf is one sport that is better on the DVR. Was taken aback when on McKellar you seemed flummoxed about how to address ratings problems and the eventual sponsors saying enough is enough.