There are a lot of factors go into viewer figures for sporting events.
The 20% drop-off for the last round of The Masters will be a complicated one to unpick.
Sometimes you get unlucky with the way the Sunday at a major plays out and Scottie Scheffler being relentlessly good didn’t make for an exciting conclusion.
I bet a lot of people would have changed the channel when his second victory at Augusta started to feel inevitable early in the back nine.
A sport also needs to get lucky when it has a serial winner.
Again, it’s not Scheffler’s fault that he doesn’t have a big, charismatic personality.
However, my guess would be that the most meaningful factor is the continued absence of a breakthrough in the LIV Golf-PGA Tour split and the public’s weariness with it.
Hearing golfers constantly speaking about money is literally a turn-off.
The news agenda in the golf bubble is still being driven by splits and potential reconciliations.
The Rory McIlroy LIV rumour was the latest big one that turned out to be false.
It’s ironic that the most recent big golf story – McIlroy showing a willingness to go back into the PGA boardroom to help sort things out – surrounds the golfer who has the best grip on the fact that news like this is exactly the sort of thing damaging the sport.
I hope Nelly Korda proves to be a cross-over star for women’s golf.
She really should be.
Winning five straight LPGA tournaments, the last of them a major, is a phenomenal achievement.
The fact it’s only been done twice before in the history of the game speaks for itself.
She’s got a good back-story – a famous sporting dad and a big health scare to overcome a couple of years ago.
And she plays her golf quickly, which is a big thing in my eyes.
Unfortunately, whereas with the men’s game people know where to find the golf on TV but are turning off in greater numbers, in the women’s the live action just doesn’t seem to be getting the platform it deserves.
It’s becoming a bit of a changing of the guard end to the season in curling.
Jennifer Jones finishing up in the women’s game was the big story at the recent Players Championship out in Toronto.
And that’s been followed by Glenn Howard announcing his full retirement as a player.
As with Jennifer, the word ‘legend’ sits perfectly with Glenn.
To have lasted as a curler – and a competitive curler at that – through to the age of 61 is incredible.
Glenn was at the top of the sport, or very close to it, for almost four full decades.
He won four national titles and the same amount of World crowns.
The Olympics proved elusive but he was competing in a golden era of Canadian curling.
It was an absolute privilege to have Glenn as part of my career.
Of all the coaches I’ve had, his aura and knowledge of the game was something else.
I’d be amazed if he doesn’t stay involved as a coach and whichever team gets Glenn in their corner next will be very fortunate.
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