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The PGA Tour's ratings in 2025 continue to rebound from its struggles in 2024 after an increase audience drawing at last week's Cognizant Classic at PGA National, according to the Sports Business Journal.
Joe Highsmith won his first PGA Tour event on Sunday in Florida, shooting a final round seven-under-par 65 on his way to a two stroke victory. Highsmith had struggled in 2025, but played his best tournament of the year the week prior at the Mexican Open, finishing tied for 17th.
"NBC drew 2.15M viewers for Joe Highsmith's win in the Cognizant Classic on Sunday. Last year's finish was pushed to Monday due to rain, but taped coverage drew 1.45M viewers. Better comp is the prior two years: 2.38M (Chris Kirk) and 2.57M (Sepp Straka)," SBJ writer Josh Carpenter wrote on X.
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The ratings on Sunday were up by more than half a million viewers when compared to last year's conclusion, which was on Monday due to inclement weather on Sunday. When compared to 2022 and 2023, the numbers in 2025 appear to be getting closer to those years.
PGA Tour events without stars have been struggling to garner ratings of late
A common thread that the Cognizant Classic has experienced over its last four years is the lack of superstars in its field. The Cognizant Classic, which used to be the Honda Classic, was once one of the premier regular season events on the PGA Tour.
The iconic PGA National Resort in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida used to be a signature stop for the world's top players. One of the more famous duels between Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy took place on the course in 2012, in which the former came into the day seemingly out of contention before firing a final round eight-under-par 62, which included an eagle on the picturesque 18th hole.
Rory ultimately parred the final five holes to win by two strokes, concluding what was a thrilling event for golf fans.
The ratings for the 2012 tournament dwarfed what the current iteration of the tournament garners, with 4.1 million viewers watching the final round in 2012.
In 2023, the Congizant Classic drew 2.38 million viewers and in 2022 it drew 2.57 million viewers. If you look at the leaderboard for the tournament each year from 2022-2025, the lack of golf's biggest names is more than apparent.
This has become a common thread on the PGA Tour with some of its regular season events, specifically its non-signature events. The Tour's Signature Events are limited field-events that only the top players can get into.
The Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines is not a Signature Event in the same sense as the higher purse ones, such as the Arnold Palmer Invitational and The Memorial Tournament. Many players who play at the Farmers Insurance nowadays do so in order to get into the limited-field Signature Events throughout the year.
The once great tournament that was an annual stop for the game's best, such as Tiger Woods, Torrey Pines no longer attracts the best of the best for the Farmers Insurance Open.
In 2025, the tournament had 1.22 million viewers during the final round on Sunday, a fraction compared to the 6.2 million viewers it had in 2008, when Tiger won the event by eight strokes.
Without golf's stars, some of the PGA Tour's regular season events will continue to struggle to attract viewers.
