CBS earned a 2.9 overnight Nielsen rating for Adam Scott's four-shot win yesterday at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, up 26% from a 2.3 overnight for last year's final round, which saw Hunter Mahan win by two strokes. The rating peaked during the final half hour of the telecast with a 3.6 rating from 5:30-6:00pm ET. Cleveland-Akron topped all metered markets with a 7.1 local rating. This year's 2.9 overnight, however, remains down significantly from recent years where Tiger Woods won the event. CBS earned a 4.7 overnight for Woods' last win in '09, a 3.5 overnight in '07 and a 6.2 overnight in '06. Saturday's coverage on CBS earned a 2.0 overnight, up 25% from a 1.6 rating last year (Austin Karp, THE DAILY).
STEVIE WONDER: Following Scott’s win, CBS’ David Feherty conducted an interview with Steve Williams, who caddied for Scott. Williams, who had been Tiger Woods’ caddie for 13 years, said this had been the “best week of his life” and called the victory the “best win I’ve ever had” (“WGC-Bridgestone Invitational,” CBS, 8/7). In St. Petersburg, Tom Jones writes CBS deserves the “Best Hustle Award for the juiciest television moment of the weekend and the best golf moment of the year.” Williams “might have given the greatest caddie interview in the history of television,” and if CBS was “hoping Williams would say something interesting, it hit a gold mine.” Jones: “Major kudos to CBS for grabbing Williams” (ST. PETERSBURG TIMES, 8/8). Golf Magazine Senior Editor Mike Walker wrote Williams was “pretty emotional in CBS’s customary post-round caddie interview.” SI’s Gary Van Sickle wrote Williams in the “media scrum … was funny, engaging, honest, humble and admitted that yes, this was his most satisfying week ever.” Van Sickle: “It was better than probably any interview Tiger gave in his career” (GOLF.com, 8/7).
HE STILL MOVES THE NEEDLE: Woods finished tied for 37th in his first full tournament since The Masters, and in Buffalo, Bucky Gleason writes, "I've been trying to convince myself that the PGA Tour was fine without Tiger Woods, but the truth is I paid much more attention [this past weekend] because he was back on the course." Gleason: "Like him or not, nobody captures our attention like Tiger" (BUFFALO NEWS, 8/8).
TOO HOT TO HANDLE? In N.Y., Phil Mushnick noted TNT has the cable broadcast rights to this week’s PGA Championship, and it would be the “perfect time to discuss on TNT in some detail why Woods, after his colossal plunge from grace, was no longer allowed to play” with Charles Barkley, as the Basketball HOFer has admitted that Woods “no longer returns his calls.” TNT will have “access to Woods over the next few days, and it presumably has access to Barkley any time it wants.” Mushnick: “For all the focus TNT bestows on Barkley and all the attention it will devote to Woods this week, TNT won’t touch this one, will it?” (N.Y. POST, 8/7).
