Who watches LIV Golf? The Saudi-based league set the stage for providing the most exhilarating, fast-paced golf action in the world. A 54-hole shotgun format that is not plagued with constant stoppages and disruptions should ideally make golf more exciting to watch. Especially if it includes some of the best golfers in the world like Jon Rahm, Joaquin Niemann, and Bryson DeChambeau. However, it hasn’t been as big of a draw as it seemed on paper.

LIV Golf is recording dismal viewership numbers despite having millions invested in every event. The $5 billion project has averaged about 100,000 to 150,000 viewers. It gradually grew to the average in its initial years, but has remained constant around those numbers for the last couple of seasons. It’s nearly 10 times lower than the kind of viewership numbers the PGA Tour attracts in its weekly events. Average PGA Tour viewership goes up to 1.2 million.

Due to the drastically low viewership numbers, LIV Golf has often been the butt of the joke in the golf community. Fans have constantly berated them for not being able to gain viewers despite procuring so many famous golfers. Right from the beginning of the 2025 season, netizens had bashed the ‘unnecessary gimmick’ that the new CEO, Scott O’Neil, tried to pull at LIV Golf Riyadh. O’Neil scheduled the season opener after sundown to be broadcast live in prime time in the USA. His plans failed miserably as Riyadh averaged at about 70k viewers. Something similar happened recently when an expert mocked the viewership of LIV Golf Mexico City when their peer shared the latest report on X.

A few hours ago, Josh Carpenter tweeted, “FS1 averaged 110,000 viewers for Sunday’s final round of LIV Golf Mexico City, won by Joaquin Niemann. Saturday coverage: 84,000 on FS1 Friday: 30,000 on FS2.” As usual, LIV Golf’s trip to Mexico City saw very low viewership stats. That prompted Eamon Lynch to repost the tweet with the quote “Gonna be tough for Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers to get a return on their sponsorship at this rate.” For context, Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers recently partnered with Bubba Watson’s RangeGoats GC. LIV Golf revealed the news on April 3, 2025. Watson and Co. were already being mocked for signing the odd partnership. Based on the retweet, Lynch is suggesting that the fast-casual restaurant brand might already be looking at the exit clause after seeing the abysmal viewership numbers.

This is not the first time LIV Golf sponsors have faced the heat from the golf community for promoting it. Let’s take a look at a few other incidents where companies have faced backlash due to their association with the PIF-funded promotion.

LIV Golf sponsors bashed for bad business decisions

One of the biggest deals LIV Golf signed in 2025 was Crushers GC partnering with Reebok. The famed sports apparel brand returned to endorsing golf athletes after many years. However, the promotions lacked any “drip” and received a lot of heat from the netizens. However, Reebok still stuck around and has been backing Bryson DeChambeau & Co. despite the bad TV ratings. But, there are some brands that didn’t want to continue the partnership.

As reported by Today’s Golfer, KPMG, Amstel Light, and Workday all broke ties with Phil Mickelson soon after he jumped ship. RBC and Adidas had also dropped Dustin Johnson when the latter announced joining LIV Golf back in 2022. In fact, Sergio Garcia had also been let go by Adidas after his move. It won’t come as a surprise if Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers also regret their decision in the near future and find a way to break ties with RangeGoats GC.

Do you think LIV Golf’s low TV ratings warranted the mockery from Eamon Lynch? Let us know in the comments section.