TV viewing figures have been a hot topic in the world of golf lately, and rarely for the right reasons. But Nelly Korda's victory in the 2024 Chevron Championship has offered a glimmer of hope to those concerned over the sport's future in relation to live coverage.
While the recent first Major of the men's pro golf season suffered one of the lowest TV crowds for a Masters in decades, the Chevron Championship had no such concerns.
NBC reported that this year's tournament - held at The Club at Carlton Woods in Texas - was the most-watched Chevron Championship since 2010, with a peak audience of almost 1.9 million tuning in during the latter stages of Sunday's final round.
The broadcaster also boasted an average viewership of 936,000 across the entirety of the final round, a figure which it said was "on par" with the 2023 tournament when Lilia Vu nudged out Angel Yin via a playoff for her maiden Major.
And the Total Audience Delivery - a concept that NBC formulated which "combines views on linear broadcast and cable channels along with mobile (cell phones), tablets, and connected TVs" (per medium.com) - reached 361,000 viewers, a jump of 2% compared with the complete coverage of the 2023 Chevron Championship across Golf Channel and NBC.
pic.twitter.com/gbW4CMI0WnApril 23, 2024
Such numbers for the week were arguably even more impressive given there was a Signature Event on the PGA Tour running concurrently. Almost on a winning run as impressive as Korda, Scottie Scheffler continued to dominate the men's game with his fourth victory in five starts at the RBC Heritage - completed on Monday morning following weather delays in South Carolina.
Meanwhile, Korda - who claimed victory by three shots on 12-under from Maja Stark, Lauren Coughlin, Brooke Henderson, and Ryu Hae-ran - had discussed women's golf needing "a stage" to boost its profile in the build-up to the Chevron and argued for greater live TV coverage as a start.
Korda said: "I feel like we just need a stage. We need to be put on TV. I feel like when it's tape delay or anything like that that hurts our game. Women's sports just needs a stage. If we have a stage we can show up and perform and show people what we're all about."
The LPGA Tour continues this week with the JM Eagle LA Championship, although Korda will not feature as the women's World No.1 opted to withdraw due to feeling "exhasted" - consequently putting her quest for a sixth victory in a row on ice.
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