Golf Channel on Saturday night delivered the most-watched round ever for the Presidents Cup on cable TV, fueled by Tiger Woods leading the U.S. team’s come-from-behind victory. Golf Channel drew 1.74 million viewers (TV+streaming) on Saturday from 6:00pm-12:00am ET (1.71 million on TV alone). The telecast peaked from 11:15-11:30pm ET. This year was the first time Woods had played the Presidents Cup since '13. Saturday night’s telecast also was up 137% from the comparable round in ’15, which aired in a similar window from South Korea. The 37,000 viewers that streamed the Saturday night matches is a Presidents Cup record for digital. The majority of the four-day President Cup was played in primetime on the East Coast due to the 14-hour time difference between it and Melbourne, where the event took place (Austin Karp, THE DAILY).
MISSED OPPORTUNITY: MORNING READ's Mike Purkey wrote NBC's Paul Azinger is "arguably the most fearless analyst in the game," but he "regularly pulled his punches and ignored some subjects altogether" during the net's Presidents Cup coverage. Azinger was the "only person on the telecast who has served as captain for an international team competition, and he was potentially a wealth of information and insight into what goes into the thinking" of captains Tiger Woods and Ernie Els. Azinger has been "away from competitive golf long enough to be unafraid to criticize individual players." But it "seemed as if, because he is a winning Ryder Cup captain, he was reticent to critique fellow captains" (MORNINGREAD.com, 12/14).
FOND FAREWELL: GOLFWEEK's Adam Woodward noted Golf Channel's "Live From" host Rich Lerner and analyst Brandel Chamblee yesterday "paid touching tribute to Frank Nobilo" on his last segment before joining CBS in '20. Lerner later in the segment said Nobilo has become "one of the most respected voices in the sport." Woodward wrote Chamblee's arguments and debates with Nobilo have "produced compelling television over the years." Chamblee said that he will "miss not only Nobilo's boxing analogies, puns and long, unfunny jokes, but also his analysis and 'unbelievable versatility' and ability to take the players' perspective" (GOLFWEEK.com, 12/15). Nobilo recently spoke with THE DAILY about his full-time move to CBS.
