Tour Championship 2025 first round becomes the most-watched opening day in 22 years

The 2025 Tour Championship's opening round recorded a significant number of viewership. The season-ending PGA Tour event was held from Thursday, August 21, to Sunday, August 24.

Golf analyst Josh Carpenter shared the tournament stats on his X account after the event. The first round averaged around 816,000 views on Golf Channel, which was an 80 percent increase from last year and the best since 2003.

Sharing the stats, Carpenter wrote:

"The Tour Championship had its most-watched first round in 22 years on Thursday. Golf Channel averaged 816,000 viewers, up 80% year over year. It's the best since 2003 when it was on ESPN in November. Thursday peaked at more than 1.1 million in the 5:30pm"

Josh Carpenter

@JoshACarpenter

The Tour Championship had its most-watched first round in 22 years on Thursday. Golf Channel averaged 816,000 viewers, up 80% year over year. ​It's the best since 2003 when it was on ESPN in November. Thursday peaked at more than 1.1 million in the 5:30pm

Russell Henley shone in the opening round of the Tour Championship on Thursday. He carded a round of 9-under 61 to take the early lead in the game. He started the game on the first tee hole and made two birdies and an eagle on the front nine.

On the back nine, he made two more birdies on the 12th and 13th holes and then three on the 16th, 17th, and 18th to settle for a score of 9-under.

However, as the tournament progressed, Henley struggled with his game and narrowly missed the title. He carded the second round of 66, followed by the last two rounds of 69, to settle at 15-under for a T2 place.

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Tommy Fleetwood wins the Tour Championship

At the season-ending Tour Championship, English golfer Tommy Fleetwood put forward an amazing performance and registered a three-stroke win in the game. He started the campaign with an opening round of 64, followed by the next round of 63. He carded 67 on Saturday, August 23, before playing the final round of 68 and settled at 18-under.

In the post-round press conference, he opened up about his final round performance and said (via ASAP Sports):

"I felt like I'd lost my swing really. I got a bit erratic from the 5th. I felt like I started the round off really well, really solid, did all the right things. Then I hit two really poor mini-drivers, 5 and 8, but I felt like I'd lost my swing a little bit, lost my timing, lost my transition, hit a big hook off the 10th, and all my focus kind of went into my rehearsals, changed my rehearsals a little bit, changed my tempo, tried to find my transition a bit."

Patrick Cantlay tied for second with Henley at the event, followed by Scottie Scheffler, who finished in a three-way tie for fourth place with Corey Conners and Cameron Young.

Justin Thomas carded a round of 65 on Sunday and jumped three spots on the leaderboard to tie for seventh place with Sam Burns and Keegan Bradley. Ben Griffin and Chris Gotterup tied for 10th place.