The PGA Tour is at Colonial Country Club this week, and the field is underwhelming.
The Memorial Tournament at Jack’s place is next week, so the very best players in the world are preparing for Muirfield Village. Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy are among the notable absentees from this week’s Charles Schwab Challenge.
In fact, only one player in the top 10 of the official world golf rankings, JJ Spaun, is teeing off at Colonial this week. Spaun, Ludvig Aberg, and Justin Thomas are some of the stars in the field, but they are few and far between.
All the while, Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm are playing in Korea on LIV Golf and gaining some serious leverage on the PGA Tour in the process.
Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau gain leverage on the PGA Tour
LIV Golf’s future is in serious doubt after the league lost its Saudi funding next season, so Rahm and DeChambeau are preparing for the eventuality of the tour’s collapse.
DeChambeau, in particular, is in heated negotiations with the PGA Tour over a potential return. The tour says he must agree to a deal with them to return, as Brooks Koepka did, but DeChambeau appears unwilling.
He said he’s considering doing YouTube full-time and only playing the majors as he claws for leverage against the tour, but his recent performances in major championships have left him on the back foot in these discussions, as he missed the cut at The Masters and the PGA Championship.
This week’s PGA Tour event at Colonial, however, is a stark reminder to the tour that they need the likes of DeChambeau and Rahm. When LIV Golf split the professional golfing world in two, the star power on both tours was diluted, and that’s painfully clear on weeks like these.
The tour needs some star power to boost this event, and if the likes of DeChambeau, Rahm, or even Cameron Smith were available to play, it would only increase the likelihood that a big name would play every event.
Instead, we’re left with a tournament at Colonial devoid of a superstar and a tournament in Korea that barely anyone is watching. It’s a sorry sight for the game of golf, and it can’t come to an end soon enough.
CJ Cup viewership stresses the importance of star power
Last week’s CJ Cup Byron Nelson threatened to suffer with the same problem, but Scheffler’s tee time saved the event. He played in his home-state tournament and was in contention until late on Sunday, which made a monumental difference to viewership.
TPC Craig Ranch hosted a birdie fest, with Wyndham Clark winning the event at 30-under par. But despite the easy conditions and despite Scheffler being the lone superstar in the field, the tournament attracted massive numbers.
On Friday, 804,000 viewers tuned in to the CJ Cup, making it the most-watched weekday telecast in the history of the event on the network. It was also the most-watched weekday telecast for the event since ’05, the year Tiger’s cut streak ended.
And on Saturday, viewership peaked at 1.15M, the most-watched third round of a tour event on cable since last year’s Memorial.
This shows the impact even one star being in contention can make, and it stresses the importance of DeChambeau and Rahm returning.