ABC's coverage of Monday's "Battle at Bighorn,"
featuring Tiger Woods-Sergio Garcia, earned a 7.6/13 fast
national Nielsen rating, up 10% over last year's 6.9/12
final rating for the "Showdown at Sherwood," featuring Woods
and David Duval (ABC). The AP's Howard Fendrich notes the
made-for-TV golf event "got better ratings than the 7.2 the
network's Monday Night Football averaged for its three
exhibition games" with analyst Dennis Miller. Fendrich:
"Maybe ABC should consider putting Tiger Woods in the Monday
Night Football booth." The ratings for Bighorn "increased
each half-hour it was on the air" (AP, 8/30). Inside.com's
Tom Bierbaum: "Woods continues to prove that he's a prime-
time ratings attraction" (Inside.com, 8/30). CNNfn's
Beverly Schuch noted Bighorn was a "ratings boon for ABC."
TheMan.com's Randall Lane, on Woods: "He's really, really
just transforming golf on television. In the last nine
days, it's gone to stratospheric levels." More Lane:
"Having a charismatic guy like Sergio Garcia come in and win
by one stroke makes you go, 'Hey, it's not a sure thing, I
might have to tune in and see if Tiger can do it again.' ...
In many ways, it's better for both [Woods] and golf when he
occasionally shows himself to be fallible" ("Biz Buzz,"
8/29). In Oakland, Art Spander offers kudos for the event:
"[It] was contrived. The match Monday was superficial. And
I couldn't stop watching" (OAKLAND TRIBUNE, 8/30). In
Orlando, Brian Schmitz writes on the Monday night broadcast:
"Now it's official. When golf dares to work a room reserved
for the NFL's most hallowed institution -- and offers just
as many reasons to watch -- you know Tiger Woods' reach has
become immeasurable" (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 8/30).
NO ILL FEELINGS TOWARD TIGER: In L.A., T.J. Simers
writes that Woods left an "overwhelming" impression after
the event. Simers: "Here's a superstar, tired, sick and
beaten by a jabbering upstart, and he not only meets his
responsibility to report to the postmatch press conference,
but sits back and has some fun" (L.A. TIMES, 8/30).
FINAL NEC RATINGS: TSN's coverage of Sunday's final
round of the WGC NEC Invitational drew an average audience
of 419,000 viewers, up from last year's final round average
of 321,000 (TSN)....ELECTRONIC MEDIA reports that TNN's
coverage of the back-end of CBS' NEC coverage on Sunday
averaged a 3.0 cable rating, translating into two million
homes. The rating was up 356% over TNN's average 0.7 rating
for that Sunday time period (ELECTRONIC MEDIA, 8/30).
