Paige Spiranac says Masters viewing figures plunged 20% because 'fans are turned off' by LIV-PGA civil war and the game's 'unwillingness to try new things': 'Change needs to happen'

Viewership of The Masters' final round on Sunday reportedly fell 20 percent from last year- and golf influencer Paige Spiranac believes fans are 'turned off' by the sport's civil war.

As Scottie Scheffler closed in on his second Green Jacket, 9.589million people were tuned into the action at Augusta, according to Sports Business Journal's Josh Carpenter - compared with an average of 12.06 million for last year's final day.

And in response to a tweet sharing the dip in ratings, Spiranac blamed the ongoing feud between the PGA and LIV Golf for the underwhelming numbers.

'Golf is in an interesting spot right now. People turned off by all the money talk and the industry's unwillingness to try new things. Some change needs to happen,' she said on X.

Of course, the power struggle between the PGA and the upstart LIV has engrossed the sport for the last couple of years, with the Saudi-backed breakaway league offering mouthwatering sums of money to recruit the game's stars.

So far, that's been enough to attract the likes of Phil Mickelson, who reportedly received $200million to join LIV, and last year's Masters winner Jon Rahm, who received an astonishing $500million.

The two tours shocked golf fans last June when they announced they would be merging, but so far no official agreement has been reached.

Earlier in the tournament, Spiranac apologized to her followers for her reduced social media activity from Augusta, with the tournament famously banning cell phones there.

The golf influencer, who boasts four million followers on Instagram, shared the message from her hotel after the third round of play on Saturday.

'Been having the best time ever at the masters! Sorry I haven't been as active,' she wrote.

'It's hard when you can't bring your phone but can't wait to update you guys later! Who do you think is winning tomorrow?'

 Earlier in the week, Spiranac slammed Zach Johnson after he appeared to tell Masters fans to 'f*** off' after missing a bad putt.'

Johnson later apologized and insisted he was actually swearing at himself.