The hole that the United States Ryder Cup team dug themselves into during the first two days of last weekend’s event appears to have had an impact on the biennial event’s TV ratings.
Sunday’s final round at Bethpage State Park in Farmingdale, N.Y. averaged 3.22 million viewers, the lowest viewership numbers for a Ryder Cup on American soil this century. It was an 8 percent decrease from the 3.51 million viewers who tuned into the Americans’ dominating 2021 victory at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin.
Across the pond, Sky Sports reported 5 million average viewers for this year’s Ryder Cup in the U.K., a new network record and a 45 percent increase from the 2023 event in Rome.
Team Europe entered Sunday’s individual competition with a commanding 11.5 to 4.5 lead after winning each of the first four sessions. The Americans made an impressive surge, losing just one of the 11 individual matches that were played. That resulted in a ratings surge up to 5.3 million viewers just after 5 p.m.
However, the Europeans survived with a 15-13 win to snap a streak of five straight Ryder Cups won by the hosts.
