What I Learned: Golf's Great Stories Overshadowed Again by the NFL

Wins from Rory McIlroy and an amateur on the PGA Tour (!) were completely lost as golf continues to try for attention at the worst times.

Every Monday, Alex Miceli will share what he learned from the previous week in golf.

On Saturday, when reigning U.S. Amateur champion Nick Dunlap was putting the finishing touches on a 12-under 60 with a birdie on the 9th hole, his last at La Quinta Country Club, the possibility of an amateur winning the American Express became not only possible but probable.

The world of golf hadn’t seen an amateur hold a trophy on the PGA Tour since Phil Mickelson at the 1991 Northern Telecom Open in Tucson, Ariz.

So a potential victory by Dunlap should have been a big thing, the type of thing that transcends golf.

Most American sports fans missed Nick Dunlap's story while watching football.  :: Taya Gray/USA TODAY Network

Earlier in the day, Rory McIlroy came from 10 shots back of leader Cameron Young in Dubai by shooting 63, putting himself in position to win his fourth Hero Dubai Desert Classic.

This was also a big thing, a solid start to the season for the Ulsterman who will have all eyes on him in three months in Augusta, Ga.

Yet no one except a diehard golf fan had any clue what was happening with Dunlap or McIlroy, as this was also NFL Divisional Playoff Saturday and 37.5 million viewers were focused on the Green Bay Packers vs. San Francisco 49ers.

With defending champion Jon Rahm persona non grata, the field at the American Express was still solid with Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Justin Thomas, Min Woo Lee, Patrick Cantlay and Jason Day.

That by itself should have generated some buzz, but not against the NFL.

On Sunday, McIlroy took down the field to win by one in Dubai and later in the day Dunlap, the sophomore from Alabama, survived to win by one over South African Christiaan Bezuidenhout.

Most people won’t remember either victory but instead will remember the wide-right missed field goal by Buffalo kicker Tyler Bass.

Or the Taylor Swift appearance. Or the shirtless Jason Kelce rooting on his brother's Kansas City Chiefs.

JASON KELCE IS ALL THAT IS MAN pic.twitter.com/KKOmoiuEvq

— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) January 22, 2024

Bass vs. Dunlap?

Looking at Google Visibility scores, which show the interest level on the search engine, Dunlap topped out at 38.

Bass touched 100 later in the day as he did his best impersonation of Scott Norwood in a game that hit 39.3 million viewers on CBS, which dwarfed what was happening in golf.

All of this is to say that while I didn’t learn that golf is a niche sport—I already knew that—it was reinforced that golf is a poor second, third, fourth or worse in viewership to other sports.

It also reinforced the fact that professional golfers are not really entitled to the same money or salaries to a professional football, basketball or baseball player, despite what some of them think. Just look at the television numbers.

Being the best in your sport is laudable, but it doesn’t mean you should get paid as much as the best players in other sports.

It also begs the question, why is professional golf playing against not only football, but playoff football?

Just three more weeks and McIlroy’s fourth Dubai win or Dunlap’s victory would have had a chance to get proper attention. Instead they were lost in the blowback of the NFL.

When will golf learn?