‘LIV crumbling’: Golf World reacts to Rocket Classic’s soaring viewership on Sunday

The final round of the Rocket Classic on Sunday pulled in an average of 3.25 million viewers on CBS, the tournament’s largest audience in five years and a 13% increase from 2024. It marks the PGA Tour’s strongest viewership season since 2018.

The Instagram account @foreplaypod shared a post on July 2, highlighting Rocket Classic's final round viewership:

"PGA Tour ratings are on fire. Sunday was the most‑watched Rocket Classic final round in five years. @Truly.”

The accompanying graphic read:

"PGA Tour having best viewership season since 2018."

Fans started comparing the PGA Tour with LIV Golf in the comment section. One fan commented:

'LIV crumbling"

One fan showed their excitement by writing, "Great year so far."

One fan showed disappointment, "How it's not even on TV until like 3 pm."

Another fan commented, "There's been some 🔥 finishes this year for sure."

A fan wrote, "Some great golf as of recent."

Image via Instagram page, Foreplaypod

Image via Instagram page, Foreplay pod

Across seven Sunday broadcasts this season, PGA Tour events on CBS and NBC are averaging over 3.1 million viewers, dwarfing LIV Golf’s 175,000 viewers average on Fox, FS1, and FS2.

LIV Golf’s Miami event, its highest-rated U.S. broadcast to date, peaked at 484,000 viewers on Fox, still about 27% of the PGA Tour’s 1.75 million audience for the concurrent Texas Open on NBC.

Apart from that, let's look at the final leaderboard of the 2025 Rocket Classic.

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2025 Rocket Classic leaderboard explored

The 2025 Rocket Classic ended in a thrilling playoff at the Detroit Golf Club. Aldrich Potgieter, Max Greyserman, and Chris Kirk tied at 22-under after 72 holes. Kirk dropped out with a bogey on the second playoff hole. Potgieter outlasted Greyserman after three more holes to claim the title. Michael Thorbjornsen and Jake Knapp tied for fourth at 21-under.

Here's the final list of top finishers at the 2025 Rocket Classic (via PGA Tour):

• WINNER - Aldrich Potgieter (-22)
• T2 - Max Greyserman (-22)
• T2 - Chris Kirk (-22)
• T4 - Michael Thorbjornsen (-21)
• T4 - Jake Knapp (-21)
• T6 - Nico Echavarria (-20)
• T6 - Jackson Suber (-20)
• T8 - Kevin Roy (-19)
• T8 - Matt Fitzpatrick (-19)
• T8 - Collin Morikawa (-19)
• T8 - Thriston Lawrence (-19)
• T8 - Andrew Putnam (-19)
• T13 - Min Woo Lee (-18)
• T13 - Hideki Matsuyama (-18)
• T13 - Chandler Phillips (-18)
• T13 - Ben Griffin (-18)
• T13 - Harry Hall (-18)
• T13 - Mark Hubbard (-18)
• T19 - Sami Valimaki (-17)
• T19 - Matt McCarty (-17)
• T19 - Chan Kim (-17)
• T19 - Cameron Champ (-17)
• T19 - Doug Ghim (-17)
• T24 - Harry Higgs (-16)
• T24 - Nicolai Hojgaard (-16)
• T26 - Akshay Bhatia (-15)
• T26 - Michael Kim (-15)
• T26 - Matthew Riedel (-15)
• T26 - Jacob Bridgeman (-15)
• T26 - Chris Gotterup (-15)
• T26 - Chad Ramey (-15)
• T32 - Vince Whaley (-14)
• T32 - Patrick Cantlay (-14)
• T34 - Kris Ventura (-13)
• T34 - Joe Highsmith (-13)
• T34 - Philip Knowles (-13)
• T34 - Hayden Springer (-13)
• T34 - Lee Hodges (-13)
• T34 - William Mouw (-13)
• T34 - Davis Thompson (-13)
• T41 - Keegan Bradley (-12)
• T41 - Luke List (-12)
• T41 - Thorbjorn Olesen (-12)
• T41 - Ryan Gerard (-12)
• T41 - Peter Malnati (-12)
• T46 - Matt Wallace (-11)
• T46 - Takumi Kanaya (-11)
• T46 - Gary Woodland (-11)
• T46 - Cameron Young (-11)
• T46 - Justin Lower (-11)
• T51 - Victor Perez (-10)
• T51 - Nick Hardy (-10)
• T51 - Henrik Norlander (-10)
• T51 - Lanto Griffin (-10)
• T51 - Aaron Wise (-10)
• T51 - Webb Simpson (-10)
• T51 - Thomas Rosenmueller (-10)
• T51 - Will Gordon (-10)
• T51 - Kurt Kitayama (-10)