In an effort to gauge Tiger Woods' impact on the TV
ratings of PGA Tour events, THE DAILY lists final-round
ratings for all '98 and '99 Tour events, as well as Woods'
finish in each tournament for the two years (THE DAILY).
'99 WOODS' '98 WOODS'
EVENT NET RAT/SHR FINISH NET RAT/SHR FINISH %+/-
Mercedes Champ. ESPN 1.96 T5 ABC 3.1/6 T2 N/C
Sony Open ESPN 1.45 DNP ABC 2.2/5 DNP N/C
Bob Hope ABC 3.2/7 DNP NBC 5.5/11 DNP -42%
Phoenix Open CBS 3.5/7 3 ESPN 1.85 DNP N/C
Pebble Beach CBS 2.6/6 T53 CBS ^ W/D N/C
Buick Invit. CBS 6.3/15 1 NBC 3.3/8 T3 +91%
Nissan Open CBS 5.3/12 T2 CBS 5.1/11 P2 + 4%
WGC-Andersen ABC 3.6/9 T5 N/A N/A DNP N/A
Tucson Open CNBC 0.1 DNP ABC 3.3/8 DNP N/C
Doral-Ryder NBC 3.5/8 DNP CBS 5.4/12 T9 -35%
Honda Classic NBC 2.9/6 DNP NBC 3.1/8 DNP -6%
Bay Hill Invit. NBC 3.5/8 T56 NBC 3.7/9 T13 - 5%
Players Champ. NBC 4.6/11 T10 NBC 4.4/13 T35 + 5%
BellSouth NBC 3.3/11 DNP CBS 4.3/12 1 -23%
Masters CBS 10.1/11 T18 CBS 10.2/28 T8 - 1%
MCI Classic CBS 3.2/8 T18 CBS 3.3/8 DNP - 3%
Greensboro Open CBS 2.6/7 DNP CBS 3.4/8 DNP -24%
Houston Open CBS 2.5/7 DNP ABC 2.3/6 DNP + 9%
Compaq Classic ABC 2.0/6 DNP NBC 2.9/8 DNP -31%
Byron Nelson CBS 2.6/7 T7 ABC 2.8/8 T12 - 7%
Colonial CBS 3.0/8 DNP CBS 2.4/7 DNP +25%
Kemper Open CBS 2.4/8 DNP CBS 2.8/8 DNP -14%
Memorial CBS 3.8/11 1 ABC 3.0/8 T51 +27%
FedEx St. Jude ABC 1.4/4 DNP CBS 3.2/9 DNP -56%
U.S. Open NBC 6.8/19 T3 NBC 6.0/17 T18 +13%
Buick Classic ABC 2.9/8 DNP CBS 4.0/11 DNP -27%
Western Open ABC 3.6/1 1 CBS 3.3/9 T9 + 9%
Milwaukee Open ABC 1.5/4 DNP ABC 1.4/3 DNP + 7%
British Open ABC 4.8/14 T7 ABC 5.0/14 3 - 4%
John Deere CBS 2.5/7 DNP Golf ^^ DNP N/A
Hartford Open CBS 2.6/7 DNP CBS 2.5/7 DNP + 4%
Buick Open CBS 3.2/9 DNP CBS 3.7/10 T4 -14%
PGA Champ. CBS 6.9/18 1 CBS 5.7/15 T10 +21%
Sprint Int'l CBS 3.1/8 T37 CBS 4.1/11 4 -24%
WGC-NEC Invit. CBS 4.8/12 1 CBS 3.1/8 T5 +55%
Reno-Tahoe Open CNBC 0.2 DNP N/A N/A DNP N/A
Air Canada ESPN2 0.92 DNP Golf ^^ DNP N/C
Bell Canadian ESPN 0.63 DNP ESPN 0.91 DNP -31%
B.C. Open ESPN 0.86 DNP Golf ^^ DNP N/A
Buick Challenge ESPN 1.25 DNP ESPN 0.65 DNP +92%
Michelob Champ. ABC 1.4/3 DNP NBC 1.3/3 DNP + 8%
Las Vegas Invit. ESPN 1.09 DNP ESPN 1.06 DNP + 3%
National/Disney ABC 2.6/6 1 ESPN 0.97 T7 N/C
Tour Champ. ABC 3.2/7 1 ABC 1.9/4 20 +68%
WGC-AmEx Champ. ABC 2.7/6 1 N/A N/A DNP N/A
NOTES: '99 marked the first year of the World Golf
Championship-Andersen Consulting, Reno-Tahoe Open and World
Golf Championship-AmericanExpress tournaments. N/C means
the ratings are not comparable, as one year the event was on
cable, while the other year it was on network.
^ = The final round of the '98 Pebble Beach National
Pro-Am was rained out and postponed to later in the year.
^^ = Ratings for The Golf Channel were not available.
ANALYSIS: The following can be noted for the comparable
18 PGA Tour events in '99 which featured Tiger Woods:
Ratings for Sunday's final round coverage were up in eight
of the nine PGA Tour events that Woods placed higher than
his '98 finish; Final round ratings were up in all six of
the events that Woods won in '99, with an average increase
of 45%; Final round ratings were down in all four events in
which Woods finished lower compared to his performance in
'98; Final round ratings were also down in all three of the
events that Woods did not play in '99 after playing in the
event in '98; However, ratings were also down in the one new
network event Woods did play in '99. The Nissan Open was
not factored into the comparisons as Woods' finish was the
same, finishing second in '98 and tying for second in '99.
