The Sentry viewership dropped by almost half in 2025 despite Hideki Matsuyama's record win: Reports

The new PGA Tour season hasn’t started on a high note, as the Sentry 2025 experienced a significant drop in viewership. Despite Hideki Matsuyama's historic win at Kapalua, viewership declined by nearly 35% compared to 2024.

On Friday, January 10, Ryan Ballengee of Golf News Net reported that the Sentry earned a viewership of 461K on the Golf Channel. This figure was 707K in 2024 and 603K in 2023.

As per Sports Business Journal, the viewership for the final round during NBC's 4–6 pm ET window was over 800K. Compared to the Sentry, TGL performed much better, averaging 919K viewers on Tuesday night. During the 9:15–10:15 pm ET window on ESPN, the viewership peaked at 1.04 million.

PGA Tour events have seen a trend of declining viewership over the past few months. There weren’t many tournaments that performed better than their previous editions. The final round of the Masters Tournament had an average viewership of 9.59 million on CBS, which was 20 percent lower than in 2023.

---

Hideki Matsuyama breaks the PGA Tour record at the Sentry 2025

Last week, Hideki Matsuyama claimed the Sentry 2025, beating Collin Morikawa by a three-stroke margin. After four rounds, his 72-hole aggregate was 35-under, the lowest-ever score on the PGA Tour. Previously, this record was held by Cameron Smith, who aggregated at 34-under at the Kapalua in 2022.

For his victory, Matsuyama earned a $3.6 million share from the $20 million purse, while Morikawa earned $2.16 million.

Here's the leaderboard for the Sentry 2025:

• 1. Hideki Matsuyama: -35 ($3.6 million)
• 2. Collin Morikawa: -32 ($2.16 million)
• 3. Sungjae Im: -29 ($1.36 million)
• 4. Jhonattan Vegas: -25 ($975,000)
• T5. Ludvig Åberg: -24 ($744,166)
• T5. Corey Conners: -24 ($744,166)
• T5. Thomas Detry: -24 ($744,166)
• T8. Sam Burns: -23 ($550,000)
• T8. Cameron Young: -23 ($550,000)
• T8. Maverick McNealy: -23 ($550,000)
• T8. Tom Hoge: -23 ($550,000)
• T8. Harry Hall: -23 ($550,000)
• T13. Taylor Pendrith: -22 ($410,000)
• T13. Cam Davis: -22 ($410,000)
• T15. Aaron Rai: -21 ($292,000)
• T15. Robert MacIntyre: -21 ($292,000)
• T15. Austin Eckroat: -21 ($292,000)
• T15. Patrick Cantlay: -21 ($292,000)
• T15. Keegan Bradley: -21 ($292,000)
• T15. Tony Finau: -21 ($292,000)
• T15. Wyndham Clark: -21 ($292,000)
• T15. Adam Scott: -21 ($292,000)
• T15. Sepp Straka: -21 ($292,000)
• T24. Matt Fitzpatrick: -20 ($196,000)
• T24. Max Greyserman: -20 ($196,000)
• T26. Justin Thomas: -19 ($163,333)
• T26. Max Homa: -19 ($163,333)
• T26. Will Zalatoris: -19 ($163,333)
• 29. Adam Hadwin: -18 ($148,000)
• T30. Xander Schauffele: -17 ($137,500)
• T30. Russell Henley: -17 ($137,500)