Why Men Don’t Watch Women’s Golf (They Should)

This past Sunday, I sat down on the couch with two options on the golf watching calendar.

The men were playing at Memorial, a signature PGA Tour event on a famous course. On almost any other week, I would have chosen to watch that tournament.

Instead, I flipped over to the U.S. Women’s Open.

Why? There were two reasons that came to mind immediately.

• Nelly Korda, the eventual winner, was in the mix. Korda is the clear No. 1 player in the world. She’s American and seems like a genuine person. Her skill is undeniable and watching greatness fulfill itself is deeply satisfying in any sport.

• Riviera CC. The tournament was being played on an iconic venue, one that rarely gets to host a major. We were also seeing Riv in the late spring where it was much firmer than the Genesis Invitational in February. It’s an amazing course.

I was very rewarded for my decision.

The golf was phenomenal. Korda fought her way through a crowded leaderboard where several players had a legitimate chance to win. Her clutch birdie putt on the par-5 17th enabled her to par the final hole—the par putt from inside three feet just barely caught the left lip and curled in—and give her a one-stroke victory over the entertaining Charley Hull and Mexico’s Gaby Lopez.

It was a fascinating tournament. Korda desperately wanted to win our national open, her fourth major title. It took all of her resolve to pull it out.

Now, the very real possibility remains that Korda, about to turn 28, could collect all five women’s major titles. And there are three more major opportunities on the table this year (Korda also won the year’s first major, the Chevron Championship).

All of this is exciting to me.

It got me wondering why I rarely tune in to watch women’s golf.

Sure, I might pop in to check out the majors. I have a rudimentary understanding of who the top players are and what their personalities are like.

But this U.S. Women’s Open was every bit as thrilling as a top men’s event.

Why don’t men like me watch women’s golf more often?

I find this conversation fascinating because there are many factors at play.

Here is what I will list as the reasons why I automatically change the channel to the men instead of the women.

• Player/course familiarity. This is a huge one. I know all of the characters in the men’s game including all the venues they play. The fact I’m a fan of Riviera made watching the U.S. Women’s Open significantly easier, to be honest. I know the holes. And seeing how they play differently for the women is interesting to me.

• Overall fan interest. When more people are interested in the product, it makes it easier to watch and write about. When there are big tournaments without much in-person fan support and social media isn’t buzzing with reactions, it makes being a part of the ecosystem a little harder. That wasn’t as much the case this past weekend where fan support seemed great both in-person and virtually.

• Broadcast. While a major broadcast like the U.S. Women’s Open had some weight to it, I find myself a little offended at the level of mediocrity with women’s golf broadcasts on the whole. I watched a little of the Chevron Championship, the year’s first major, and it was absolutely dead. You would have thought you were watching a typical LPGA Tour event. Morgan Pressel is completely unlistenable. Mel Reid is fantastic although it seems like we get far more of Pressel. I’m not just talking about the commentary, however: there are fewer shot tracers, less storytelling, fewer cool graphics, less drone footage. All of that matters. Once again, I’m referring more to a standard women’s golf broadcast and a couple of the lackluster majors more than this past weekend.

• Storyline motivation. OK, why should I care? Korda is a great reason but that is a fairly recent development in terms of her domination. She had a great 2024 but went winless in 2025. And I don’t mean to be cruel but a lot of the parity in women’s golf makes it seem like we are getting a ton of faceless major winners. There are so many seemingly random victors in the biggest events. It’s kind of crazy. Korda’s greatness absolutely makes me more likely to tune in.

Here are some of the reasons that might seem true on the surface but are false:

• The way the men play is more exciting to watch. I don’t think this is true. While I find myself saying this to myself with several women’s sports in comparison to to the men, I almost never think this about golf. These women are insanely talented. The quality of golf is very high.

• The men are more relatable. I don’t think this is true, either. Actually, it’s the opposite. The average man should be modeling their game after these LPGA Tour players (who would absolutely destroy any scratch male amateur). Their swing speed/tempo, their mechanics, their ability to keep the ball in front of them … we should all be aspiring to match them. Let’s be honest—my game has way more in common with Nasa Hataoka than Dustin Johnson.

I am going to watch more women’s golf this year

After this past weekend, I’m feeling a little inspired to tune into women’s golf more often.

I’m not promising I’ll be all over it every week but I want to get involved more. I also want to write about women’s golf more often.

I’m here to talk about topics that golf fans care about. I haven’t written about women’s golf much because it doesn’t seem like most of our audience is interested. If people are interested, let’s talk about it.

I think it would be awesome if there was a swell of support for women’s golf.

What are your thoughts? Let me know below in the comments.

Top Photo Caption: Nelly Korda reacts after winning the U.S. Women’s Open. (GETTY IMAGES/Brenton Tse)