On Sunday, five-time major winner Brooks Koepka and two-time major winner Jon Rahm faced-off in a sudden-death showdown with $4 million on the line. In some alternate reality where Koepka and Rahm were still duking it on the PGA Tour, this would have been must-see TV. Instead, it was the pro golf equivalent of a tree falling in the Amazon.

Despite the initial fervor surrounding the disruptor league and the seemingly unlimited financial reserves of the Saudi Private Investment Fund, LIV Golf—where Koepka and Rahm ply their trade in this universe—has failed to catch on with golf fans. Nowhere has this been made more explicit than in Sunday’s TV ratings, which saw a high-stakes duel between two of the league’s biggest stars beaten handily by midday pickleball.

It’s important to note that these figures include only the television broadcast and do not account for streaming (same goes for the PPA). It’s also worth pointing out that the final round of the PGA Tour’s FedEx St. Jude Championship—despite big names like Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele and Viktor Hovland in the mix—was down from 3.2 million viewers in 2023 to 2.2 million in 2024. Still, alarm bells should be sounding for LIV Golf, which has gained little traction with fans across three full seasons of play.

In December, when Rahm—one half of Sunday’s playoff—made his previously unthinkable switch to LIV Golf, momentum for the league seemed to be building. A PGA Tour-PIF deal felt like a matter of when not if with big names like Koepka, Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau now in LIV’s quiver. But star power, even as DeChambeau enjoyed a scorching-hot summer in majors and on YouTube, has not translated to scale, eroding LIV’s bargaining power with each passing tournament.

We’ll see if that changes heading into year four, but if the LIV fails to improve its footing with fans, perhaps Sheikh Mansour will be eyeing up pickleball instead.