At the 2024 FedEx St. Jude Championship, Hideki Matsuyama registered a terrific win over Xander Schauffele and Viktor Hovland. While the tournament proved to be great for the Japanese golfer, the same can't be said about the viewership the event received.
Matsuyama's FedEx St. Jude Championship victory drew 2,211,000 viewers. This is a major reduction compared to last year where 3.207 million viewers tuned in to watch Lucas Glover win at the TPC Southwind. After the viewership numbers for Matsuyama's win went viral, many fans reacted to the same.
One fan wrote that people were busy watching Jon Rahm and Brooks Koepka battle it out at LIV Golf Greenbrier instead of the FedEx St. Jude Championship:
Another user claimed the Saudi-backed tournament had a better leaderboard:
Let us take a look at more reactions by fans about the FedEx St. Jude Championship drawing low viewership numbers.
"LIV has won. PGA Tour is now a relic tour for washed-up, sleepy boomers. It won't even exist in 20 years as the last remaining viewers exit the world," wrote one fan.
"TBH I watched the Amateur Championship over THAT TOURNAMENT," another fan wrote.
"I was watching #LivGolf Thriller …#GreenBrier," said one fan.
"LIV golf had a heavy weight matchup going on no suprise here folks," wrote a user.
"I was too busy watching LIV Greenbrier," a user wrote.
The low viewership numbers at this year's FedEx St. Jude Championship mark a downward trend. When the first stage of the playoff arrived in Memphis in 2022, it drew 2.967M viewers. The 2023 edition drew 3.207M viewers whereas the current edition saw a fall with 2,211,000 viewers.
How much did Hideki Matsuyama earn for winning the FedEx St. Jude Championship?
Out of the $20 million prize pool at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, Hideki Matsuyama won the biggest share of $3,600,000. On the other hand, Xander Schauffele and Viktor Hovland who tied for second place earned $1,760,000 each.
Here is a detailed list of the payout at the tournament:
- 1 Hideki Matsuyama -17 $3,600,000
- T2 Xander Schauffele -15 $1,760,000
- T2 Viktor Hovland -15 $1,760,000
- 4 Scottie Scheffler -14 $960,000
- T5 Sam Burns -13 $760,000
- T5 Nick Dunlap -13 $760,000
- T7 Wyndham Clark -12 $645,000
- T7 Robert MacIntyre -12 $645,000
- 9 Denny McCarthy -11 $580,000
- T10 Billy Horschel -10 $520,000
- T10 Seamus Power -10 $520,000
- T12 Maverick McNealy -9 $405,000
- T12 Patrick Cantlay -9 $405,000
- T12 Akshay Bhatia -9 $405,000
- T12 Will Zalatoris -9 $405,000
- T16 Aaron Rai -8 $330,000
- T16 Tony Finau -8 $330,000
- T18 Eric Cole -7 $270,000
- T18 Austin Eckroat -7 $270,000
- T18 Adam Scott -7 $270,000
- T18 Matt Fitzpatrick -7 $270,000
- T22 Min Woo Lee -6 $175,500
- T22 Collin Morikawa -6 $175,500
- T22 Taylor Pendrith -6 $175,500
- T22 Christiaan Bezuidenhout -6 $175,500
- T22 Brendon Todd -6 $175,500
- T22 Jason Day -6 $175,500
- T22 Tommy Fleetwood -6 $175,500
- T22 Justin Rose -6 $175,500
- T30 Russell Henley -5 $130,000
- T30 Justin Thomas -5 $130,000
- T30 Alex Noren -5 $130,000
- T33 Max Greyserman -4 $103,428
- T33 Davis Thompson -4 $103,428
- T33 Patrick Rodgers -4 $103,428
- T33 Emiliano Grillo -4 $103,428
- T33 Byeong Hun An -4 $103,428
- T33 J.T. Poston -4 $103,428
- T33 Erik van Rooyen -4 $103,428
- T40 Cam Davis -3 $76,000
- T40 Ludvig Åberg -3 $76,000
- T40 Sungjae Im -3 $76,000
- T40 Stephan Jaeger -3 $76,000
- T40 Jhonattan Vegas -3 $76,000
- T40 Victor Perez -3 $76,000
- T46 Thomas Detry -2 $56,700
- T46 Tom Hoge -2 $56,700
- T46 Matthieu Pavon -2 $56,700
- T46 Sahith Theegala -2 $56,700
- T50 Si Woo Kim -1 $47,250
- T50 Brian Harman -1 $47,250
- T50 Adam Hadwin -1 $47,250
- T50 Corey Conners -1 $47,250
- T50 Tom Kim -1 $47,250
- T50 Shane Lowry -1 $47,250
- T50 Ben Griffin -1 $47,250
- T50 Chris Kirk -1 $47,250
- 58 Mackenzie Hughes E $44,800
- T59 Keegan Bradley +1 $44,200
- T59 Peter Malnati +1 $44,200
- T61 Cameron Young +2 $43,000
- T61 Mark Hubbard +2 $43,000
- T61 Sepp Straka +2 $43,000
- T61 Harris English +2 $43,000
- 65 Nick Taylor +3 $42,000
- 66 Taylor Moore +4 $41,600
- 67 Jake Knapp +6 $41,200
- T68 Jordan Spieth +9 $40,600
- T68 Rory McIlroy +9 $40,600
- 70 Max Homa +11 $40,000