"More golf shots", "Speed up play": Justin Thomas' letter dismissed by fans on social media

On Tuesday, Justin Thomas called upon the PGA Tour golfers to provide "more access and insight" to drive up golf viewership via a personal letter. Fans online reacted to the golfer's suggestions and gave their inputs on what the tour could do to improve engagement.

It is no secret that golf viewership has been declining over the past few years, prompting the PGA Tour to ask golfers to participate in mid-round interviews during tournaments to keep fans engaged.

In his letter, Thomas revealed that although he was initially against mid-round interviews, he had learned to accept them over time. He believed that to be a good way to provide fans with an extra scoop. The 31-year-old spoke highly of his experience giving such interviews in the past two of his starts.

However, fans didn't agree with Justin Thomas's judgment about mid-round interviews and provided suggestions on what they would like to see more, with one fan writing:

"most people aren't even watching pre-round. How about showing us more golf shots."

"Bring back the old ATT Pro Am. Engage with golf fans who so enjoyed the celebrities and the professionals at Pebble Beach. It is now just a corporate retreat at the beach," one fan wrote.

"Interviews are nice but I can take it or leave it. I'd rather they speed up play and have top players play in more events. Show more data regarding shots and in general show more shots."

Last year, Rory McIlroy claimed that the split between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour "fatigued" fans, affecting viewership in both leagues. Some fans seemed to have a similar sentiment while reacting to Justin Thomas's letter.

"PGA needs to merge with LIV. I don't see how they get engagement not having so many Marquee players," one fan said.

"Or, they could make peace with LIV and create opportunities to cross over, which in itself would be promotable? I’m sure they would love to try and beat each others respective golf orgs. Gives tribal fans of both leagues a reason to tune in for their respective favs," another added.

Some fans also believed resolving slow play issues would make golf tournaments more interesting.

"That won’t help until they speed up play and not take 7 hours a day for 4 days in a row. No one can watch that." one fan chimed in.

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Justin Thomas spoke to PGA Tour broadcasters about what can increase viewership

Justin Thomas (Source: Imagn)

Among his suggestions mentioned in the letter, Justin Thomas brushed on the significance of the Tour broadcasters, NBC and CBS, in increasing viewership and audience engagement in the sport.

"One thing that keeps coming up in my mind is the role we play in working with our broadcast partners... We're incredibly lucky to have many passionate people tuning in to watch us every week," he wrote.

The Major championships attract a larger audience compared to other golf events. However, the 2024 Masters final round reportedly averaged 9.59 million viewers on CBS, a 20% drop from 2023.

Meanwhile, LIV Golf's Individual Championship was watched by only 89,000 on The CW in 2024, according to reports. However, these ratings do not include streaming platforms' viewership, which is increasingly becoming the go-to, especially for young fans.

The broadcast patterns have also been modified to increase the excitement and palatability of watching golf. Select groups are given extended coverage and several tournaments are streamed live.

LIV Golf is also attempting to turn golf into a huge, entertaining spectacle, while the PGA Tour has partnered with Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy for their tech-centric TGL.