Phil's Champions Win Edges Out Shriners' Ratings, But No One Was Watching Either One

Showbuzzdaily.com

Maybe you decided to go for a par-5 in two, dunked it in a pond and lost $20. Or you finally figured out you’re paying more for fewer channels after cutting the cord? Or you just feel understandably duped for having bought a $1,000 patio furniture set that’ll sit under a cover for the next seven months?

But know this, as least you aren’t paying millions to broadcast or sponsor PGA Tour fall golf. Or millions upon millions for the FedExCup.

Last week’s ratings for the 2021 Shriners Hospital For Children Open and Furyk and Friends event on the PGA Tour Champions are posted at ShowBuzzDaily.com and what’s the best thing one can say? At least they drew a rating, while the LPGA’s Founders Cup could not draw a large enough audience to be listed.

It was the rare win for PGA Tour Champions golf, with Phil Mickelson’s third victory in four starts drawing an average of 237,000 to the Shriners’ 210,000. Both drew what amounts to a courtesy number of 13,000 in the coveted 18-49 demo, so this was even more Villages-leaning than normal. Essentially, built into that number are the family dog and college freshman home for the weekend who tip-toed out by the TV while Pops was snoozing in a Barcalounger to Sungjae Im’s stirring victory.

The causes of this dire state were predictable, predicated and are no secret except to those whose bonuses depend on pumping out product: schedule oversaturation, Golf Channel reaching fewer and fewer homes, and too many other more compelling things to watch.

(Side note on the whole cable/cordcutting topic: this David Lazarus column in the LA Times highlights won way Spectrum is trying to woo back the cutters and it’s really quite unbelievable!)

In the embed above, other sports ratings were included from the bottom third for context. The 2021 Shriners numbers were also down substantially from last year when the pandemic cancelled college football games and other sports:

Saturation Point? Fall Golf Barely Draws A Rating

I’ve seen golf lose out to pretty much all of Animal Planet’s programming slate and Everybody Loves Raymond reruns before—as happened last weekend—and did not expect any self-respecting American sports fan to tune into the 2021 Sanderson Farms last weekend with so much else to watch. We had the MLB season coming to a close, more great NFL games, and total fatigue having set in on the PGA Tour’s oversaturated “product.”

Still, a .15 and average viewership of 247,000 and only 17,000 in the 18-49 year old, is pretty shocking to see in print given the Sanderson Farms doing 450,000/.29 last year.

Showbuzzdaily has all the numbers here. You’ll have to scroll down to see where golf finished.

This also means the weekend’s European Tour event at St Andrews and the LPGA’s ShopRite did not draw a Golf Channel audience large enough to register a rating.

In 2020 the Sanderson and ShopRite aired on the same weekend and drew much larger audiences:

Long Overdue Concession To The NFL: PGA Tour To Finish Saturday Before NFC/AFC Championship Sunday

The PGA Tour, Farmers and CBS have wisely decided not to fight the behemoth that is the NFL, moving up the Farmers Insurance Open to a Saturday finish. In previous years the NFC and AFC Championship games finished the Sunday of the Hope/Clinton/Phil/Chrysler/Humana/Careerbuilder/AmEx. In one of the many mysteries to rule the day in Ponte Vedra, that event stubbornly stuck to its Sunday finish and rarely saw much of a final round audience.

With the NFL’s expanded schedule for 2020-21, the Championship games have been pushed into Farmers weekend, the traditional start of CBS’s broadcast schedule.

The full press release and note the initials NFL never appear:

2022 Farmers Insurance Open® will feature Saturday finish on CBS

CBS Sports’ 2022 kickoff event to run Wednesday-Saturday including evening finish

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA, AND SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA – The PGA TOUR and Farmers Insurance® – title sponsor of the Farmers Insurance Open since 2010 – announced that the Farmers Insurance Open will shift its tournament competition days to Wednesday-Saturday – January 26-29, 2022 – at Torrey Pines Golf Course. With a crowded sports weekend, the PGA TOUR, CBS, Farmers Insurance and the Century Club are excited to shift to a Saturday final round that will result in a Friday and Saturday evening viewing on the East Coast with finish times of 8 p.m. ET both days on CBS.

Golf Channel will carry the opening two rounds on Wednesday and Thursday (January 26-27). The final two rounds will be played Friday and Saturday (January 28-29), with more than six hours of coverage on CBS. Lead-in coverage on Friday and Saturday will be broadcast by Golf Channel.

Additionally, the diversity-focused Advocates Pro Golf Association Tour’s (APGA) Farmers Insurance® Invitational, now in its third consecutive year playing, will expand to two rounds, with round one being played on Saturday, January 29, on the North Course at Torrey Pines Golf Course. The final round will be held Sunday, January 30, on the South Course and will be broadcast live on Golf Channel, marking the first time an APGA Tour event will be televised. 

“We appreciate Farmers Insurance’s collaboration and innovative thinking with this shift in competition days,” said PGA TOUR President and EVP Tyler Dennis. “The PGA TOUR’s first network event of 2022 wrapping up on Saturday combined with football games the following day will create an action-packed weekend for sports fans. Farmers Insurance has also shown extraordinary commitment to diversity in our game, and we are thrilled with the expansion of the APGA Farmers Insurance Invitational which will include Golf Channel coverage of the final round.”

As a California-based organization, Farmers Insurance initially committed to sponsor the 2010 tournament just 10 days before the opening round and just months after arriving in the San Diego community in response to devastating wildfires.  Nearly a decade later, disaster resilience continues to be an important component of the business and community efforts of Farmers®, while the focus on diversity and inclusion has grown. 

“Over the course of more than 10 years serving as the Farmers Insurance Open’s title sponsor, the Farmers team has worked with the Century Club and PGA TOUR to evolve and grow the tournament’s impact on the game of golf, and in the San Diego community,” said Farmers Chief Marketing Officer Melissa Joye. “As we approach the 2022 event, we’re proud to continue our sponsorship and look forward to hosting the APGA Tour’s first-ever nationally televised event.”

“The teamwork, flexibility and creativity exhibited by the PGA TOUR and Farmers Insurance to adapt the schedule for a Saturday finish was outstanding,” said Dan Weinberg, Executive Vice President, Programming, CBS Sports. “For over a decade the Farmers Insurance Open has launched our season. Thanks to our terrific relationships, our viewers are in for a fantastic sports weekend on CBS with golf, football and college basketball.” 

“There is tremendous interest and momentum on the APGA Tour as we continue our mission to prepare African Americans and other minority golfers to compete and win at the highest level of professional golf,” said APGA Tour CEO Ken Bentley. “Farmers Insurance has been a founding and consistent supporter of our efforts for several years. The opportunities, connections and exposure that we already received through the Farmers Insurance Invitational being held the same week at the same venue as the PGA TOUR were already tremendous for the development of our Tour and our players. With today’s announcement of a 36-hole event with a final round on Torrey Pines’ South Course that includes our first live broadcast on the Golf Channel, we couldn’t be more thankful and grateful for the effort and support from the Farmers team, the Century Club, the PGA TOUR and Golf Channel. The Farmers Insurance Invitational will be a fantastic showcase of the talented players on the APGA Tour and their stories of perseverance and determination.”  

“We’re proud to present the first-ever national telecast of an Advocates Pro Golf Association Tour event with the Farmers Insurance® Invitational next January on GOLF Channel,” said Tom Knapp, EVP, Partnerships and Programming, NBC Sports. “NBC Sports and GOLF Channel are committed to growing the game of golf and utilizing our platforms to help the sport become more diverse and inclusive. We’re excited to showcase the competition on the APGA Tour and provide a national platform for the Tour and its players.”

In collaboration with Farmers, the Century Club has contributed more than $15 million to deserving organizations benefiting at-risk youth through the tournament since 2010. Patrick Reed, who claimed a five-stroke victory in 2021 at the Farmers Insurance Open, is expected to defend his title in 2022.

Quadrilateral: Major(s) News And Notes, August 5th, 2021

This week’s Quad takes in the yuuuuuge news this week of Scottish Open points availability for both the FedExCup and Race to Dubai. It’s been undersold how meaningless this news is to fans, so I tackle that and the more important topic of oversaturating markets with watered down events.

It’s still staggering to think the PGA Tour could not find a sponsor for a New York playoff stop. And yet it’s not after so many majors, Presidents Cups and playoff events in a short time. But this matters because the majors got pulled in on many fronts and, well, just check it out.

Plus a couple of Ryder Cup notes. It’s free every Thursday! Sign up!

Report: PGA Tour's 2021 Asia Swing Seems In Doubt

GolfChannel.com’s Rex Hoggard has seen a rough draft of the fall 2021-22 PGA Tour schedule that commences in 56 days. It appears the three-event swing through Asia—the CJ Cup, ZOZO and WGC HSBC—are in doubt or unlikely to be played in their traditional locations.

One person with knowledge of the negotiations said that the CJ Cup is looking into venues in the U.S. again, but the other two events in Asia likely wouldn’t relocate to the U.S., meaning some players would likely be reluctant to travel because of the pandemic.

Certainly understandable with international travel issues. But this is amazing:

There’s currently an off week after the Tour Championship (Sept. 9-12), though some sources said the Tour could slide a new event into that spot.

They can’t even leave a week off to recharge everyone’s batteries. Example 4,018 of why it’s absurd to incentivizing PGA Tour executives to grow playing opportunities and purses, even if you’re having to track down players who won 20 years ago to fill out a field. Players who can’t get in a Champions Tour event!