Players Championship standard bearer of the year for 2024 is Parker Neal
The Players Championship standard bearer off the year gets the last group in the final round on Sunday the following year. Parker Neal had the honors.
- The 2025 Players Championship saw increased viewership compared to the previous year.
- Sunday’s final round drew an average of 3.6 million viewers, peaking at 6.2 million.
A tight tournament followed by a three-hole sudden death playoff Monday finish helped bolster The Players Championship’s TV ratings.
On Sunday afternoon, as Rory McIlroy, J.J. Spaun and several other golfers vied for the championship, the Players averaged 3.6 million viewers on NBC. That’s up from 3.5 million, or roughly 2.8 percent, from 2024.
Peak viewership hit 6.2 million Sunday at 7 p.m. as Spaun and McIlroy finished one hole apart, with Spaun coming up just few feet short on a 30-foot putt at the 18th hole of the Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass for the win, forcing a Monday morning three-hole playoff with McIlroy.
The tournament had been delayed four hours because of inclement weather Sunday.
Sunday’s peak viewership was up from 6.0 million in 2024, or 3.3 percent.
Monday playoff watched by 1.5 million
On Monday morning, when the three-hole playoff was televised on NBC and Peacock, viewership reached 1.5 million.
There are no comparisons given this was the first three-hole playoff held on a Monday.
However, the viewership of 1.5 million is the second-highest weekday total on Golf Channel in the past 20 years, behind only Friday of the 2021 Ryder Cup. This includes the Thursday and Friday airings of all other Tour events on Golf Channel.
In addition, more than 6,000 fans returned to watch the playoff at the Stadium Course, with temperatures in the 50s to start.
”The success of The Players Championship is a carryover from the early-season momentum we are experiencing, thanks to our fans,” said PGA Tour spokesman Stewart Moore. “For more than 6,000 spectators to turn up on a Monday morning with 12 hours notice to provide a true championship atmosphere was remarkable, as Rory himself note. And the viewership numbers from Golf Channel on Monday morning and NBC throughout the weekend — despite weather issues — is a strong indication The Players continues to elevate in the eyes of our fans with each playing.”
The last Monday playoff in The Players was in 1981, but that was only one hole sudden death between winner Raymond Floyd, Curtis Strange and Barry Jaeckel.
There have been eight other Monday finishes in Players history.
The last time the Players went to a playoff was in 2015, but that was settled Sunday night.
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