With few stars on the leaderboard, Sunday’s final round of the Masters was the least-watched in nearly 30 years.

Hideki Matsuyama’s one-stroke win averaged around 9.5 million viewers on CBS Sports. 

It was the least-watched final round for a spring Masters since German star Bernhard Langer’s second win in 1993. Still, the audience was up 70% from 2020’s final round, which was moved to November due to the pandemic. 

Matsuyama made history as the first male Japanese golfer to capture a major, but this year’s coverage was missing three key factors that drive ratings:

• No familiar names: Matsuyama’s green jacket is sure to spark a frenzy in golf-loving Japan, but he was previously unknown to casual viewers. Defending Masters champion Dustin Johnson didn’t make it to the weekend. Other big names missing the cut included: Rory McIlroy, Sergio Garcia, and Brooks Koepka. Plus, five-time Masters champ Tiger Woods didn’t play because of injuries sustained in a car accident.
• No drama: Masters ratings soar when the lead changes hands or stars face off in a sudden-death playoff. Sunday had little drama. Matsuyama teed off with a 4-shot lead, then made the turn into the back nine with a 5-shot lead. Even though he came back to the pack at the end, the win never seemed in doubt. 
• Few roars: Unlike November, Augusta National Golf Club admitted patrons, but a crowd estimated at 20% of capacity sounded more like 10%, according to Golf Digest. 

The tournament fell flat for viewers — in person and on TV. As Mike Greenberg noted on ESPN’s “Get Up,” Sunday’s finale was more of a “coronation than a competition.”

Epic Games has completed a $1 billion funding round, giving the “Fortnite” maker a $28.7 billion valuation. The round includes a $200 million investment from Sony. Additional investors include Luxor Capital, Franklin Templeton, and Fidelity Investments Inc. 

“Their investment will help accelerate our work around building connected social experiences in ‘Fortnite,’ ‘Rocket League,’ and ‘Fall Guys’ while empowering game developers and creators with Unreal Engine, Epic Online Services, and the Epic Games Store,” said Epic founder and CEO Tim Sweeney in a statement. 

Epic previously secured $1.78 billion in funding in August, which included $250 million from Sony, amounting to a 1.4% stake in Epic. Following that round, Epic was worth $17.3 billion.

Now, Epic is poised for more growth, despite a legal battle with Apple and Google over “anticompetitive behavior.” In March, the company acquired London-based video game developer and publisher Tonic Games Group, the parent company of Mediatonic.

Mediatonic is the developer behind battle royale hit “Fall Guys,” which has eclipsed more than 11 million downloads since August on PC game distribution service Steam. 

“Epic continues to deliver revolutionary experiences through their array of cutting-edge technologies that support creators in gaming and across the digital entertainment industry,” Sony President, CEO, and Chairman Kenichiro Yoshida said.

The legal battle between the U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF) and the U.S. Women’s National Team (USWNT) over equal pay appears headed for the Ninth Circuit.

The two sides came to an agreement on working conditions claims made by the USWNT covering charter flights, venue selection, the number of support staff, and hotel accommodations.

With U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner’s approval of the agreement on Monday, the women’s team is cleared to appeal his decision from May rejecting the team’s claim that they are underpaid. 

The two sides continued their battle in the press, releasing contradictory statements after the most recent ruling. 

The USSF wrote that “U.S. Soccer is 100% committed to equal pay,” adding that “We have offered the USWNT the identical compensation provided to our men’s players for all matches controlled by U.S. Soccer.” 

The USSF drew a distinction to FIFA, which gave out $400 million in prize money to the 32 men’s teams in the 2018 World Cup and only $30 million to the 24 women’s teams in the Women’s World Cup the following year. 

The USWNT shot back:

“In truth, USSF’s last settlement offer, which was over a year ago, offered far less than equal pay to the players. If USSF was ‘100% committed to equal pay,′ then USSF would have offered the players equal pay and equal working conditions.” 

The USWNT initially sued the USSF in 2019 over unequal pay and working conditions in comparison to the men’s team, seeking over $66 million in damages.