British Open ratings down despite a lot of young names being involved

While the new generation in golf might be great at pumping their own brands and wearing flashy outfits, it isn’t translating in viewership, at least not this past weekend at Royal Liverpool.

The final round of the 2014 British Open was the lowest since ESPN took over broadcasting the championship in 2009 and was down 26 percent from last year’s incredible finish by Phil Mickelson to claim his only Claret Jug.

Despite Rory McIlroy making history at Royal Liverpool and both Rickie Fowler and Sergio Garcia making charges in that final round, the numbers showed what has continued to be a trend this year in the major championships.

The Masters struggled because of a fireworks-free back nine, while the U.S. Open was an 18-hole coronation for Martin Kaymer, who was never really pushed as he entered Sunday at Pinehurst with a five-shot lead.

If the U.S. Open had the excuse of a blowout combined with other options including the World Cup, the British Open was practically alone on Sunday in terms of big sporting events yet couldn’t even beat out Louis Oosthuizen blowing out the field at St. Andrews or Darren Clarke shocking the world with his win in 2011.

So what is the issue?

The Saturday finish by Rory McIlroy didn’t help, making two eagles over his final three holes to extend his lead to six shots heading into the final round. It also didn’t help that the return of Tiger Woods produced very little over the final 54 holes.

Woods might have started off hot with that opening round 69, but he played his final three rounds 9-over, beating just three players who made the cut at Hoylake.

The surprising dip in ratings compared to some of the other Opens is the names heading into the final round. McIlroy, Garcia, and Fowler finished at the top, but stars like Dustin Johnson and Adam Scott had chances to make a run before the last 18 holes kicked off.

If nothing else, all this tells us is that we really, really need a great PGA Championship to end this major championship season, because viewership has been abysmal this year considering the snoozers we’ve seen on Sunday, and if we get another blowout at Valhalla we have to wait a long time until we get to Augusta National in 2015, and who knows how healthy the big names will be, and who will be at the top of their game when casual sports fans turn away from golf for eight months.

Devil Ball Golf – Golf – Yahoo Sports