Does The PGA Tour Even Need LIV Anymore?

Throughout this whole PGA Tour-LIV saga—which feels longer than the Cold War—I’ve been on the block of supporting a reunification where the game’s best players come together more often.

I still believe pro golf is better that way given how golf is, relatively speaking, a niche entertainment option with a bloated viewing experience. Watering down the product by splitting it up has never made sense.

However, the first few months of this year has forced a recalibration.

Hand up: I did not anticipate the Tour rebounding like it has in 2025.

After a significant TV ratings downturn in 2024—and what appeared to be growing apathy among fans—the Tour has taken back some momentum this year.

Meanwhile, LIV has only fallen further into the shadows. TV ratings remain abysmal, despite a better TV deal.

We recently asked Twitter users (I refuse to call the platform X) to describe LIV with three words. The top responses were as follows:

• Unserious golf organization
• Who f—– cares
• Forgot it existed
• Hated by MyGolfSpy

Okay. Well then.

(For the record, “hate” is a bit much. I liked attending an event. I think their investment in YouTube golf is creative and way overdue in pro golf. It’s not all bad, obviously. But LIV as a week-to-week product is boring and makes pro golf worse. Golf fans generally don’t care about it, as evidenced by the ratings. We’re partially wasting the prime of Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm’s careers when they should be competing against Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy way more often. This isn’t anti-LIV or pro-Tour; it’s just for whatever is the most compelling situation for golf as a whole).

Anyway, back to the point at hand: Where the hell does this leave the future of pro golf?

And as we approach two years since the framework agreement was signed (remember that?), are we just headed for more gridlock?

Should the Tour continue forward without even trying to make a deal?

Does the Tour even need LIV?

The Tour is doing better than expected

I don’t want to overstate this, but the Tour has definitely found some unexpected stable ground so far in 2025.

There is some noise in the Nielsen data, but the most reliable markers we have show that the Tour has, at worst, recouped the viewership lost in 2024. After being down about 15 percent last year, it’s now up at least 15 percent—meaning it has returned to pre-2024 levels.

I think most of that difference has been good fortune of the stars playing much better. McIlroy has won three times, including an epic victory at the Masters. Scheffler just trounced everyone at the Byron Nelson. Justin Thomas is back in form, finally winning for the first time in nearly three years. Notable guys like Viktor Hovland and Ludvig Aberg have also been winners.

Now, I’m not suggesting the Tour is exploding in popularity all of a sudden. But the numbers are a meaningful improvement from last year.

The Players Championship was up slightly. Sunday at the Masters, at an average of 12.7 million viewers, was the most-watched final round Masters telecast since 2018.

But perhaps most notably, McIlroy’s win at Pebble Beach had a 3.3 million viewer average. That easily surpassed the previous three years at that tournament.

And then Thomas won the RBC Heritage with a 4.3 million average. That was the tournament’s most-watched final round in 23 years—and the most-watched final round on Tour since the 2023 Tour Championship.

This suggests that when the Tour’s best are performing well, the market is still there for golf fans to watch.

I also think—and this is purely anecdotal from talking to friends—that some die-hard golf fans are trickling back into watching non-major golf after getting burned out previously.

How sustainable is this? It’s so dependent on which players are contending. And the summer is traditionally a tough time for pro golf ratings outside of the majors. The FedEx Cup, for example, has rarely delivered with ratings. Not only is the summer when people go on vacation, but the three majors tend to suck up all the energy.

But for the moment, the Tour has some juice.

This upcoming PGA Championship has the prospect of McIlroy going up against Scheffler while both are in tremendous form—and perhaps a few other stars can get involved at Quail Hollow.

Maybe reports of the Tour’s death have been greatly exaggerated.

Meanwhile, over on FS1…

There is not much more to say about LIV’s TV ratings.

It’s been suggested that LIV TV numbers are better internationally than they are in the U.S., but I haven’t seen any real data to back that up.

And the U.S. numbers continue to be dreadful.

Two weeks ago, LIV had Bryson, Rahm and Joaquin Niemann playing well on a Sunday. The Tour had a lengthy rain delay—and this was coming at one of their worst events on the calendar.

The situation couldn’t have been better for LIV.

The result? The Tour had 1.63 million viewers and LIV had 110,000.

Obviously, the Tour is on CBS instead of FS1 where LIV plays. But this is a massive gap. Bryson can bring in a few million people to watch a scramble on YouTube, but he can’t bring in a measly 200,000 people when he’s going against world-class players? There is almost no audience crossover there—or if there is, we don’t know about it.

LIV supporters will counter with their strategy being more global, but the schedule doesn’t really reflect that. They are playing in Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Texas, Florida and D.C. They want the American TV audience.

Some have suggested that LIV isn’t necessarily going up against the Tour. It’s additive to the Tour, like the new TGL product.

But you don’t give Rahm more than $300 million to play for this small of an audience.

And it all just doesn’t pass the vibe check. People aren’t talking about LIV. There is no hook there. The venues are not recognizable and there isn’t anything at stake.

Even when Scheffler shot 31-under and killed everyone last week, there was context. He tied a Tour record for lowest score over 72 holes. There is history there. We like to watch greatness with context.

That doesn’t exist with LIV. Honestly, I wish it did. I wish it was compelling golf. It’s just not.

So it feels like the Tour is operating alone—at a healthy rate—while LIV lingers in irrelevancy.

Which begs a massive question about the game’s future

Does the Tour need the Saudi Public Investment Fund?

Maybe not.

The assumption has been that the Tour had to make a deal because the Saudis would just pick players off one by one and destroy the Tour’s product if the two went their separate ways.

Well, it’s been an awfully long time since a meaningful Tour player left for LIV. Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton left about 17 months ago. There have been no major additions since then.

The Tour isn’t necessarily thriving, but it’s stable enough for the time being.

According to reports, the deal has been held up by the Saudis wanting LIV to continue as a standalone circuit with a schedule that extends beyond a fall circuit or another compromise. That has led to gridlock with no deal in sight.

Earlier in the year, McIlroy said a deal “doesn’t feel any closer,” giving a grim picture of reunification. And then he mentioned how the Tour doesn’t necessarily need a deal.

So what is to stop the Tour from continuing down this current path?

Sure, they probably want a few of the LIV players back, like DeChambeau, Rahm and Koepka. But it’s also possible some LIV players could leave the league after their contracts expire.

They also want the added investment of a few billion dollars being pumped into the Tour—but not for the price of the Tour reducing its own schedule while trying to resuscitate LIV.

And how much patience will the Saudis have with golf? I’ve always thought they could do way more damage in the NBA, although selectiveness with their sports investments doesn’t seem to be a priority.

So what will the Tour do? Will they continue moving forward as they have or will they eventually make a deal?

Let me know your thoughts below in the comments.