Wyndham Clark is not buying Masters data: "I just find it really hard to believe"
PGA Tour star Wyndham Clark claimed he is not buying the data from the 2024 Masters Tournament that indicated a continued decline in TV ratings.
Wyndham Clark says he finds it hard to believe the 2024 Masters ratings were down.
The official figures for the first major of the year showed the trend for declining ratings in golf viewership continued.
According to Sports Business Journal, Masters Sunday figures were down 20 per cent from Jon Rahm's victory in 2023.
Across the four days the Masters Tournament drew an average of 8.2m, with the audience peaking at 12.56m.
England's Matthew Fitzpatrick said before the RBC Heritage that fans are sick of money talk and are not tuning in.
World number one Scottie Scheffler echoed Fitzatprick's comments as he called for the narrative to shift in men's pro golf.
Clark, who missed the cut at the 2024 Masters after taking a dig at the rival LIV Golf League, wasn't buying the data.
"See, I just find it really hard to believe that ratings are down," he said.
He added: "If you're at the tournament, it's fantastic. I think people that I do know that are watching it loved it.
"I think golf is growing. I think golf sales have grown. I know golf memberships are growing.
"It makes no sense that the professional level that the viewership would be down."
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Clark said he believes that the data might be skewed because people are watching on different platforms.
He said: "In my thought, is it because everyone is streaming and people are watching it from different avenues than maybe the normal telecast?
"I think that's in my opinion a little bit of a skewed stat because it makes no sense that every part of the game is growing but yet the professional level isn't. That's kind of my opinion on that."
Clark's comments will no doubt draw the attention of world number two Rory McIlroy.
McIlroy is also in the field at Hilton Head.
He described the PGA Tour's TV ratings so far in 2024 as 'pretty jarring'.
“If you look at the TV ratings of the PGA Tour this year, they're down 20 per cent across the board,” he said.
"That's a fifth. That's big. Twenty percent's a pretty jarring number."
McIlroy said the only solution now to solve the problem is for the men's game to be unified once again.
Over the first two days of the 2024 Masters, ESPN ratings looked good.
"When we're all back together, then golf thrives," McIlroy said. "When we're divided, it doesn't."
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