PGA Championship first round viewership average drops under 1 million after years: Reports

The 2025 PGA Championship first-round average viewership dropped under one million after years. This week's major kicked off with its first round on Thursday, May 15, at Quail Hollow Golf Club. As reported by Golf analyst Josh Carpenter, the first round had an average of 955,000 views on ESPN from noon to 7:30 pm.

The last two years' average was around 1.1 million, while in 2022 it was around 1.5 million. Sharing the stats about the major, the golf analyst shared a post on his X account, writing:

"PGA Championship: Thursday’s first round averaged 955,000 viewers on ESPN from noon-7:30pm, down from 1.1M the last two years. The 2022 opening round averaged 1.5M with Tiger playing in the window. Coverage Thursday peaked at 1.1M from 6:30-6:45."

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The 2025 PGA Championship wrapped with two rounds on Friday, May 16. This week, some top-ranked players struggled with their game and even failed to make the cut, including Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth, and others.

Who is leading the PGA Championship after Friday round?

Jhonattan Vegas played a round of 70 on Friday to extend his open round lead at the 2025 PGA Championship. He shot 64 in the first round, and after two rounds he settled with a total of 8-under.

Here is the leaderboard of the PGA Championship 2025 after the Friday round:

1 Jhonattan Vegas: -8
T2 Matthieu Pavon: -6
T2 Matt Fitzpatrick: -6
T2 Si Woo Kim: -6
T5 Max Homa: -5
T5 Scottie Scheffler: -5
T7 Michael Thorbjornsen: -4
T7 Christiaan Bezuidenhout: -4
T7 Ryan Fox: -4
T7 Alex Smalley: -4
T7 J.T. Poston: -4
T7 Robert MacIntyre: -4
T7 Sam Stevens: -4
T7 Denny McCarthy: -4
T7 Ryan Gerard: -4
T7 Garrick Higgo: -4
T17 J.J. Spaun: -3
T17 Aaron Rai: -3
T17 Taylor Pendrith: -3
T17 Bryson DeChambeau: -3
T17 Richard Bland: -3
T17 Davis Riley: -3
T17 Alex Noren: -3
T17 Ryo Hisatsune: -3
T17 Tony Finau: -3
T17 Ben Griffin: -3
T27 Eric Cole: -2
T27 Cam Davis: -2
T27 Adam Scott: -2
T27 Joe Highsmith: -2
T27 Viktor Hovland: -2
T27 Tommy Fleetwood: -2
T27 Jon Rahm: -2
T27 Keegan Bradley: -2
T27 Marco Penge: -2
T36 Lucas Glover: -1
T36 Joaquin Niemann: -1
T36 Tyrrell Hatton: -1
T36 Wyndham Clark: -1
T36 Rafael Campos: -1
T36 Matt Wallace: -1
T36 Tom McKibbin: -1
T36 Beau Hossler: -1
T36 Luke Donald: -1
T36 Corey Conners: -1
T36 Nicolai Højgaard: -1
T36 Harry Hall: -1
T48 Austin Eckroat: E
T48 Byeong Hun An: E
T48 Collin Morikawa: E
T48 Cameron Young: E
T48 Daniel Berger: E
T48 Brian Campbell: E
T48 Taylor Moore: E
T48 Nico Echavarria: E
T48 Harris English: E
T48 Stephan Jaeger: E
T48 Rasmus Højgaard: E
T48 Thorbjørn Olesen: E
T48 Maverick McNealy: E
T48 Justin Lower: E
T62 Tom Kim: +1
T62 Sergio Garcia: +1
T62 Brian Harman: +1
T62 Elvis Smylie: +1
T62 Kevin Yu: +1
T62 David Puig: +1
T62 Bud Cauley: +1
T62 Michael Kim: +1
T62 Chris Kirk: +1
T62 Rory McIlroy: +1
T62 Xander Schauffele: +1
T62 Max Greyserman: +1
T62 Sam Burns: +1

About the author

Ankita Yadav is an NFL and Golf writer at Sportskeeda with over three years of experience in journalism (and counting). With a Master’s degree in Chemistry, she somehow swapped test tubes for touchdowns and tee shots—and hasn’t looked back since.

She’s previously covered the world of entertainment with OtakuKart and TV Season & Spoilers and worked as an editor at ComingSoon. Her stories have racked up nearly nine million reads, and she’s had the chance to interview top athletes like professional golfer Yuvraj Singh Sandhu.

Based in Bhopal, Ankita proudly supports the Kansas City Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes, and is a fan of Nelly Korda. When she’s not writing, she’s probably at a live music show, watching a movie or out on a long drive.

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Edited by Hitesh Nigam