2024 Travelers Championship garners over 4,300,000 viewers who tuned in to watch Scottie Scheffler and Tom Kim's intense final playoff
According to CBS Sports, last Sunday's finale to the Travelers Championship was the most-watched final round for that tournament in the last three years. Scottie Scheffler and Tom Kim engaged in an epic duel down the stretch, with other golfers also climbing the leaderboard at the same time.
Sunday's final round coverage peaked with 4.33 million viewers at around 4:30 pm EST, which was shortly before the tournament concluded. On average, CBS reported an average of 2.61 million viewers throughout the entire day.
The final round was also streaming on CBS' affiliate app, Paramount+. That resulted in the most-streamed round of the Travelers Championship ever. No other round in the rich history of this tournament has been streamed more.
Part of the allure was the young golfer, Tom Kim, taking on the established veteran, Scottie Scheffler, who was leading most of the way. But a brilliant final round (especially the 18th) kept things close and eventually forced a playoff between the two.
Playoff golf, especially when both golfers were in such good form (22 under par for the weekend), always draws more eyes. When one of those golfers is the world number one going for an impressive sixth victory this season, even more eyes flock to the broadcasts.
Furthermore, a protest might have caught everyone's eyes. Not too far off from the time that CBS saw its peak was a brief delay. Climate change protesters stormed the course to get their message out. It was a short-lived protest, but likely brought even more viewers in.
Tom Kim speaks on Travelers Championship delay
The delay that might have drawn fans to the Travelers Championship broadcast could have disrupted what was turning out to be an incredible finish. It's difficult to say whether or not it impacted either golfer, but it did interrupt them.
Kim made his birdie putt after the interruption but fizzled out during the playoff. He said (via ESPN):
"Obviously it is a disruption and you don't want it to happen, but for me it just kind of slowed things down. It took the meaning of the putt away for a second. Because for the past 17½ holes all you're thinking about is golf, and suddenly when that happens your mind goes into a complete -- like, you're almost not even playing golf anymore. I thought it was a dream for a second."
Scottie Scheffler also noted that it was rattling since he and Kim had no idea what was going on. The broadcast picked up Scheffler giving a wry laugh as he walked away while police came onto the course.