SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — During Saturday’s broadcast of the WM Phoenix Open, the CBS Golf team assigned Colt Knost and Amanda Balionis to call the action from inside the stadium at the par-3 16th, an unruly setting perfect for television.
While there, Knost remarked that thousands of people had squeezed into golf’s most famous coliseum, which doubles as the biggest party in golf. Knost then took a shot at LIV Golf, which began its season under the lights this week in Saudi Arabia.
“There are 24,000 people around the 16th hole today,” Knost said.
“That’s 12,000 times two, if I’m not mistaken.”
On Friday, the X account YeahClickClack reported that LIV Golf’s season-opening round averaged a paltry 12,000 viewers on Fox Sports 2 (FS2). Granted, FS2, one of Fox’s sports networks, does not see much viewership compared to its more prominent, more profitable sister channel, Fox Sports 1 (FS1). However, for LIV Golf to have only 12,000 viewers on American network television for its first round of the year is quite a disappointment. Sure, Phil Mickelson, one of the league’s biggest stars, did not play due to a shoulder injury. But Jon Rahm, Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, and Tyrrell Hatton all did.
Adrian Meronk won by two shots over Rahm on Saturday in Riyadh, which marked the Pole’s first LIV Golf win since joining the circuit 13 months ago.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Follow him on X @jack_milko.
