Impressive Players Championship TV Ratings Show Rory McIlroy Is Golf's Needle Mover

There's no denying that Rory McIlroy is one of, if not, the biggest stars in the world of golf, with the 28-time PGA Tour winner bringing plenty of eyes to the sport.

A four-time Major winner, he has been at the top of the game for over a decade and, following on from his final victories on the PGA Tour, a trend has continued to show that he may well be the new needle mover in golf.

At The Players Championship, McIlroy and J.J. Spaun were forced into a Monday playoff as a four-hour delay at TPC Sawgrass on Sunday meant the pair returned to battle it out 12 hours later.

In the end, the more experienced McIlroy got the job done rather easily and, claiming a second Players Championship title and $4.5 million payday, it transpired that the viewership numbers for the tournament were up from last year.

According to The Sports Business Journal's Josh Carpenter, ratings reportedly sat at 3.6 million compared to 3.5 million last year. Although the figure was lower than the 4.1 million from 2023, it was more than Cameron Smith's victory in 2022, which was around 2.9 million.

The increase continues a trend of when McIlroy has won, as his most recent victories have all seen viewership number rises.

At the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February, an average of 3.3 million tuned in to the broadcast, which was the highest average number at the event since 2021.

Along with the tournament at Pebble Beach, McIlroy and Shane Lowry's victory at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans provided a 26% improvement over the final round of the 2023 event.

What's more, the 35-year-old's win at the Wells Fargo Championship was up a huge 34% over Wyndham Clark's victory in 2023, despite McIlroy's title charge being rather one-sided.

Going back further, and to McIlroy RBC Canadian Open victory in 2022, the final round was the most watched on CBS for 22 years, with an average of 2.78 million viewers watching the Northern Irishman's two shot victory.

It's not just the PGA Tour where there have been increases when McIlroy has been in contention, with the DP World Tour enjoying both attendance and viewership bumps during the period where McIlroy returned from the States.

Introducing new aspects to the Race to Dubai calendar, one of the moves was something called the 'Back 9,' which comprised of national Opens and the Tour's most recognized tournaments.

In total, the nine tournaments enjoyed a 7% increase in spectator attendance and peak TV viewership on Sky Sports had an average increase of 13% compared to 2023.

One of those included the DP World Tour's flagship event, the BMW PGA Championship which, after a three-hole playoff between McIlroy, Thriston Lawrence and eventual winner Billy Horschel, yielded a mammoth 65% increase in peak viewership compared to the previous year.