NBC Gets 18-Year Viewership High For British Open Final Round

Sunday’s viewership total for Molinari's win was up 32% from Jordan Spieth’s win last yearGETTY IMAGES

NBC averaged 6.48 million viewers on Sunday for the final round of the Open Championship, marking the most-watched final day of coverage since ’00, when Tiger Woods completed the career grand slam at St. Andrews (8.56 million). On Sunday, Woods had the lead after his 10th hole before faltering down the stretch, while Francesco Molinari won the event by two strokes over four players. Woods’ win at Royal Liverpool in ’06 drew 6.36 million viewers. Sunday’s viewership total is up 32% from 4.91 million viewers for Jordan Spieth’s win last year and from Henrik Stenson’s win over Phil Mickelson in ’16 (4.90 million) (Karp & Carpenter, THE DAILY).

Download the Open Championship Viewership Trend

SOME THINGS NEVER CHANGE: In Atlanta, Michael Cunningham writes this correlation between Woods "playing well in a big tournament and more people watching is nothing new." There was a time when the “Tiger Effect” extended to the "entire golf industry: higher tournament attendance, more recreational rounds played, increased youth participation, spikes in sales of golf equipment and apparel." The Open "answered any questions about whether Woods still is a draw after his game slipped for much of a decade." He was "back in the hunt at a major and, just like that, the eyeballs returned to NBC’s telecast." After all these years, still "nothing gets the casual fan to pay attention to golf like Woods making a charge on Sunday" (AJC.com, 7/23). In S.F., Ron Kroichick writes sports are "about entertainment, and Woods planting himself in contention at a major ... was wildly, relentlessly, refreshingly entertaining." Television viewers "soaked it up." Kroichick: "Woods remains the king of golf on TV" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 7/24).