TNT, TBS, truTV and HLN combined to average 5.8 million viewers for “The Match II” on Sunday, marking the most-watched golf telecast ever on cable TV. The one-day charity event, which featured Tiger Woods and Peyton Manning defeating Tom Brady and Phil Mickelson, peaked at 6.3 million viewers from 5:45-6:00pm ET. The four-network average of 5.8 million was just above what ESPN and ESPN2 recently averaged for 10 episodes of “The Last Dance” (5.6 million), but below the 6.3 million viewers for return of the NASCAR Cup Series at Darlington on Fox on May 17.
For some golf comparisons: the 5.8 million is better than three of the last five final rounds of the U.S. Open on Fox. It also topped the final round for the ’19 PGA Championship on CBS (5 million for Brooks Koepka’s win), but was well below the final round from ‘18 when Koepka held off Woods (8.5 million on CBS). “The Match” topped the final round of the ’19 Open Championship on NBC (3.7 million viewers on NBC for Shane Lowry’s win), but was well below the 6.5 million viewers in ’18, when Woods had a lead on Sunday before Francesco Molinari eventually won.
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Outside of golf, “The Match” is a tick above what ESPN averaged for Texas-Utah in the Alamo Bowl on New Year’s Eve (5.6 million viewers). It is also even with what Fox averaged for the Oklahoma-Oklahoma State football game on Thanksgiving weekend this past season. Looking at Memorial Day weekend from last year, “The Match” topped the Indianapolis 500 (5.4 million viewers on NBC), but was below the 6.4 million viewers that TNT averaged for Raptors-Bucks Eastern Conference Finals Game 6.
