All eyes turned to Louisville early on Friday morning with what turned into a stunning day ahead of the second round of the PGA Championship. That has now reflected in viewership from the audience that tuned into the action, along with other storyline, from Valhalla Golf Club that afternoon.
Michael McCarthy of Front Office Sports tweeted that second-round coverage of the PGA Championship averaged an audience of 1.6 million viewers over six hours and topped out at two million. That improved upon last years’s ratings by 18%.
To be clear, there was plenty of action out on the golf course to keep up with after the opening round and heading into the weekend. However, one could conclude that much of that spike would be those following the aftermath of the arrest of Scottie Scheffler.
Following a fatal accident on the road outside the club that morning, traffic, including those trying to get to the course, came to a standstill. That led to the incident between Scheffler, the No. 1 golfer in the sport, and the Louisville Police Department as he tried to move past the situation and they attempted to stop him. Whether just a miscommunication or more, it led to his booking in their department of corrections. They then released him on his own recognizance in time for him to make his tee time later that morning.
Reports suggested that the charges, which were for assault of a police officer, criminal mischief, reckless driving, and disregarding signals from an officer directing traffic, would be dropped this week. However, per the latest, his arraignment is all that has shifted with it being moved back from May 21st to June 3rd.
Upon his return to Valhalla, Scheffler shot a 66 on Friday. With a 73 on Saturday, though, he moved from out of contention and finished in a tie for eighth.
Xander Schauffle, the eventual winner of the tournament, shot a 68 in the second round after scoring a 62 to open the tournament. That was enough, with the help of a 65 on Sunday as well, to win his first major.
Notable names like Bryson DeChambeau (2nd), Collin Morikawa (T-4th), Hideki Matsuyama (T-35th) also shot lows of 65 on Friday.
The PGA Championship did not go as expected with Scheffler’s storyline taking tons of attention. Still, it led to viewership nonetheless with many keeping up with him and the rest of the tournament throughout the rest of that day.
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