The Masters Tournament, as well as partners CBS Sports and ESPN, are trying to battle back from a double-digit drop in TV ratings last year. The PGA Tour is still battling LIV Golf for the future of the golf business. And Tiger Woods, the sport’s biggest TV draw for nearly 30 years, is limping into semi-retirement with another injury.

Yet just when things are looking up for golf, some stars on the PGA Tour are reminding members of the media that they won’t do anything they don’t want to do, including talking.

It started last month when Collin Morikawa refused to speak to the press after a crushing loss at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. When asked about it a week later at the Players Championship, Morikawa doubled down: “I don’t owe anyone anything.” Morikawa stood by his comments this week at Augusta National Golf Club. Surprisingly, Rory McIlroy supported him.

“He’s right. I think he could have worded it a little bit better. Every other athlete, whether it be in the NBA, NFL, they’re obligated to speak to you guys after a game. And we’re not,” noted McIlroy, who left Pinehurst without talking to the media after losing the 2024 U.S. Open. “Whether that’s something the PGA Tour looks to, in terms of putting that into the rules and regulations. But as long as that’s not the case, and we have that option to opt out whenever we want, expect guys to do that.” 

Sure enough, after McIlroy collapsed late with two double-bogeys on his final four holes Thursday, he snubbed the media and headed straight to the practice area without doing interviews. But his position in 27th place spoke for itself.

Despite superstar Scottie Scheffler winning the Green Jacket, viewership for last year’s Masters final round sank 20% to 9.59 million average viewers. Discounting the COVID-19 years of 2020–2021, it was the least-watched Masters final round since 1993. 

At a time when all leagues are desperately chasing younger fans, the Tour boasts the oldest TV audience in sports (around 64 years old on average). McIlroy should know better since his own TGL indoor golf league is making inroads against the game’s graying base by attracting viewers with a median age of 52. But the global superstar cited arcane media policies to justify blowing off people who amplify his accomplishments.

You can read Michael McCarthy’s full column on the risks athletes take by avoiding the media here.

2.26 million 

Average audience for ESPN’s telecast of Luka Dončić’s return to Dallas. The number for Lakers-Mavericks probably should have been higher, given the drama surrounding the Dončić trade. Still, the telecast was the most-watched game on ESPN this season, excluding its slate of Christmas Day games, which were simulcast on ABC. Viewership was up 71% from the comparable NBA game last season. Another caveat was that the game was not exclusive in local markets, meaning Mavs and Lakers fans could watch it on their own regional sports networks. 

• TNT Sports will go behind the scenes of the network’s final season of Inside the NBA via a new documentary in May. With TNT losing U.S. media rights to the NBA, TNT will license the iconic show to ESPN starting next season. As usual, Charles Barkley has the best line in a 30-second preview of the upcoming Going Inside doc. “If they’re going to trade me, they should trade me to the Food [Network] channel,” cracks Sir Charles. 
• The Pro Football Hall of Fame has named Brent Musburger as the winner of the 2025 Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award, according to ProFootballTalk. 
• It was nice to see John Davidson and Sam Rosen reunite on TNT Sports to call one last Rangers game together Wednesday night. Over a 21-year stretch, they were one of the best sports broadcast duos in the country. Rosen will retire as Rangers play-by-play announcer after this season. “It’s like a family reunion,” Davidson told The Athletic. “It was just a lot of fun.”
• ESPN’s Marty Smith put together a great feature on Tiger Woods’s iconic chip-in on No. 16 at the 2005 Masters. You can watch here along with the classic play-by-play call of Verne Lundquist. “In your life, have you seen anything like that?” exclaimed Uncle Verne.
• Skip Bayless and Austin-based media company Backyard Ventures have partnered to expand Bayless’s eponymous digital show. FanDuel also recently became a sponsor of the show.

“Golf would benefit greatly if there were sort of a clock that we knew when it started and when it hits zero, you get a warning, and then you get a penalty. Because the game does take a long time to get moving.”

—ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt to Dan Patrick on how a TGL or MLB-like time clock would improve the pace of traditional golf telecasts. Viewership for the final round of The Masters fell 20% last year.

We got a lot of responses to our story on how women’s college basketball may never come near the viewership records generated by superstar Caitlin Clark last year.

Kevin Helmick wrote on X/Twitter that Clark’s popularity is still driving growth in women’s college basketball. “I never watched a single NCAAW finals before CC, but I watched the majority of the tourney games because she brought my interest. I used to watch only the NCAA men’s game [no NBA], and I watched less than five men’s games all year.”

UKnowUThoughtIt wrote: “Michael Jordan was hardly the first NBA great. But it’s how he moved that brought in legions of new fans and captivated old ones. That’s who Clark is for the women’s basketball.”

Manjula is not happy with Clark becoming a culture war political football. “I started watching basketball because of CC, all I have seen is hatred for CC. I am pretty sure ratings will go down even lower next year and they deserve that. I wish CC good health, peace and happiness.”