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Scottie Scheffler dominated this year’s Masters to earn a four-shot victory, his second at Augusta National in the last three years.
However, this past week’s tournament wound up being one of the worst-rated in recent memory.
Sports Business Journal reported that CBS drew 9.589 million viewers for the final round of the Masters on Sunday, down 20% from last year.
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Golf influencer Paige Spiranac has a theory as to why ratings for this year’s Masters, won by Scottie Scheffler, weren’t so great. (Getty Images)
While golf fans were geared up for a classic entering Sunday, as Scheffler had just a one-shot lead entering the final round, he took the course by the horns and ran away with it.
The tournament was seemingly over by the time Scheffler even finished with Amen Corner, making it not as much a must-watch as people anticipated.
It also didn’t help that Tiger Woods’ 82 round on Saturday, his worst-ever at Augusta, put him out of contention (he finished dead last). But golf influencer Paige Spiranac has another theory.
Paige Spiranac watches her teammates putt on the No. 6 green during the 2023 Kaulig Companies Championship Pro-Am at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio, on July 12, 2023. (Jeff Lange / USA TODAY NETWORK)
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“Golf is in an interesting spot right now. People turned off by all the money talk and the industry’s unwillingness to try new things. Some change needs to happen,” she wrote on X.
It seems that Spiranac could be hinting at the ongoing PGA-LIV discussions that have been occurring for nearly two years, which have seemingly stalled — although PGA commissioner Jay Monahan says progress has been made.
This year’s final round was the least-watched since Hideki Matsuyama’s victory in 2021. Woods also missed that tournament, and Matsuyama entered that day with a four-shot lead.
2023 Masters champion Jon Rahm, right, places the green jacket on this year’s champion Scottie Scheffler following the final round of the Masters Tournament in Augusta, Georgia, on Sunday. (Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Network)
Will Zalatoris closed the gap a bit, but it wasn’t enough, as Matsuyama survived with his final-round 73 to win by a stroke.
Last year’s Masters tournament averaged 12.06 million viewers and was the most-watched golf telecast in the past five years. LIV’s Brooks Koepka owned a two-stroke lead through 54 holes, but he shot a final-round 75, and Jon Rahm shot a 69 to win by four strokes.
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