LIV Golf returned this week with its season-opener under the lights in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and so too did the cracks about the breakaway league’s TV viewership.
LIV Golf inked a deal with FOX in January that will have a majority of the league’s golf shown on either FOX or FS1. However, LIV Riyadh found a home on FS2, and the viewership numbers were as expected.
That 12,000 number led to a subtle dig from CBS course reporter and Subpar host Colt Knost on Saturday during the third round of the WM Phoenix Open.
Knost and Amanda Ballionis spend the week at the WM Phoenix Open camped out at the famed 16th hole, and Knost made a point Saturday to note there were a lot more people around the par-3 than those who watched the first round of LIV’s season-opener.
As our James Colgan notes, the 12,000 number isn’t totally abnormal for an FS2 broadcast, given the number of people who subscribe to and watch the channel.
However, that number is still small for a live sporting event in any context and shows why the PGA Tour, with its corporate sponsors and broadcast deal, still has the upper hand in a business sense on LIV Golf.
LIV Golf’s season-opener saw Adrian Meronk take home the individual title, besting Jon Rahm and Sebastian Munoz by two shots. Rahm’s Legion XIII won the team crown.
Lee Westwood was in the mix well into the second round before a bizarre rules violation sent him spiraling down the leaderboard.
The WM Phoenix Open hasn’t been short on drama as top-ranked amateur Luke Clanton made a furious cutline charge on Friday to secure his PGA Tour card but came up one shot short.
Belgian Thomas Detry has his sights set on his first PGA Tour win, but he’ll have to hold off a healthy Jordan Spieth and other challengers to do so at The Stadium Course at TPC Scottsdale.
