ESPN's final-round coverage of the Bell Canadian Open
on Sunday, which featured another win by Tiger Woods, was
the most-watched golf telecast in ESPN's history. Sunday's
coverage was seen in 2,742,445 homes, topping the previous
record of 2,666,556 homes which tuned into the final round
of Woods' victory at the 2000 Mercedes Championships last
January. Sunday's Bell Canadian Open earned a 3.45 cable
rating, second only to the 3.46 cable rating for the final
round of the Mercedes Championships. Four-round coverage of
this year's Bell Canadian Open averaged a 1.53 cable rating
(1,214,000 HHs) up from last year's 0.78 cable rating
(602,000 HHs) (ESPN). In Canada, more than 1.5 million
viewers tuned into CTV SportsNet's final-round coverage of
the tournament, which is up 315% from last year's final
round, which drew 366,000 viewers. Woods did not play in
last year's Bell Canadian Open (CTV). In Toronto, Chris
Zelkovich notes that Friday's coverage "attracted 34 times
the number of 18-to-49-year olds that Sportsnet usually
pulls in on weekdays" (TORONTO STAR, 9/13).
