Nelly Korda's Fifth Straight Win Helps NBC Record Most-Watched Chevron Championship In Over A Decade

There was a peak TV audience of almost two million on Sunday evening as Korda picked up the second Major of her career

Nelly Korda walks along the 18th hole at The Club at Carlton Woods at the 2024 Chevron Championship
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Jonny Leighfield's avatar
By
published

TV viewing figures have been a hot topic in the world of golf lately, and rarely for the right reasons. But Nelly Korda's victory in the 2024 Chevron Championship has offered a glimmer of hope to those concerned over the sport's future in relation to live coverage.

While the recent first Major of the men's pro golf season suffered one of the lowest TV crowds for a Masters in decades, the Chevron Championship had no such concerns.

NBC reported that this year's tournament - held at The Club at Carlton Woods in Texas - was the most-watched Chevron Championship since 2010, with a peak audience of almost 1.9 million tuning in during the latter stages of Sunday's final round.

The broadcaster also boasted an average viewership of 936,000 across the entirety of the final round, a figure which it said was "on par" with the 2023 tournament when Lilia Vu nudged out Angel Yin via a playoff for her maiden Major.

And the Total Audience Delivery - a concept that NBC formulated which "combines views on linear broadcast and cable channels along with mobile (cell phones), tablets, and connected TVs" (per medium.com) - reached 361,000 viewers, a jump of 2% compared with the complete coverage of the 2023 Chevron Championship across Golf Channel and NBC.

Such numbers for the week were arguably even more impressive given there was a Signature Event on the PGA Tour running concurrently. Almost on a winning run as impressive as Korda, Scottie Scheffler continued to dominate the men's game with his fourth victory in five starts at the RBC Heritage - completed on Monday morning following weather delays in South Carolina.

Meanwhile, Korda - who claimed victory by three shots on 12-under from Maja Stark, Lauren Coughlin, Brooke Henderson, and Ryu Hae-ran - had discussed women's golf needing "a stage" to boost its profile in the build-up to the Chevron and argued for greater live TV coverage as a start.

Korda said: "I feel like we just need a stage. We need to be put on TV. I feel like when it's tape delay or anything like that that hurts our game. Women's sports just needs a stage. If we have a stage we can show up and perform and show people what we're all about."

The LPGA Tour continues this week with the JM Eagle LA Championship, although Korda will not feature as the women's World No.1 opted to withdraw due to feeling "exhasted" - consequently putting her quest for a sixth victory in a row on ice.

TOPICS
Jonny Leighfield
Jonny Leighfield
Staff Writer

Jonny Leighfield is our Staff News Writer who joined Golf Monthly just in time for the 2023 Solheim Cup and Ryder Cup. He graduated from the University of Brighton with a degree in Sport Journalism in 2017 and spent almost five years as the sole sports reporter at his local newspaper. During his time with Golf Monthly, Jonny has interviewed several stars of the game, including Robert MacIntyre, Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood, and Joaquin Niemann. An improving golfer himself, Jonny enjoys learning as much about the game as he can and recently reached his Handicap goal of 18 for the first time. He attended both the 150th and 151st Open Championships and dreams of attending The Masters one day.