The emotional victory of Anthony Kim at LIV Golf Adelaide 2026 was a moment that touched the hearts of golf fans, but surprisingly, it did not save the league from the devastating statistics of the PGA Tour. His iconic comeback in the final round, where he overcame Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau, was impressive and deserving of applause, but the reality of the audience numbers tells a very different story.
Josh Carpenter of the Sports Business Journal revealed that the coverage of Kim’s victory at LIV Golf Adelaide averaged 331,000 viewers between 11 PM and 1 AM on Saturday. To put this into perspective, at the same time last year, only 249,000 viewers tuned in to watch Joaquin Niemann’s victory. Over the course of four days, the average viewership for the Adelaide event was just 105,000. Even with a 25% increase compared to 2025, the numbers are still far from impressive.
Meanwhile, the PGA Tour, with its AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am competition, surged in viewership rankings. On Sunday, CBS recorded an impressive average of nearly 3.3 million viewers during Collin Morikawa‘s victory. The peak of the coverage reached almost 5.2 million, even with competition from events like the Winter Olympics and the Daytona 500. In comparison, the peak viewership for the LIV Golf Adelaide event was more than 15 times lower than what Morikawa achieved, highlighting the disparity in popularity.
The battle for audiences is intensifying, and the contrast between the viewership figures is not just a matter of numbers, but of appeal among fans. While Anthony Kim is a name that resonates strongly with golf enthusiasts, Morikawa, though less popular, managed to attract a much larger audience. The strategy of Scott O’Neil, who took the helm of LIV Golf, has come under intense scrutiny. He has been trying to shape the league to cater to the American audience, but the results have failed to meet expectations.
The attempt by O’Neil to hold events at more convenient times for Americans, as was the case in the Riyadh event, turned out to be a misstep. Despite the change, the 2025 event recorded the lowest audience in LIV Golf history, with only 12,000 spectators. And even after implementing significant changes and retaining top talent, the situation did not improve in 2026, with the event in Saudi Arabia averaging just 23,000 spectators.
The question that looms is: what more can LIV Golf do to attract fans? With its future now more uncertain than ever, the league faces a monumental challenge to establish itself as a competitive force in the world of golf. Kim’s victory, while memorable, was not enough to change the narrative. The struggle for recognition and viewership continues, but the shadow of the PGA Tour looms, threatening to overshadow any progress LIV Golf might attempt to make.
Discover more from Apito Final
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
