Without Tiger Woods and opposite the Olympics, ratings for the PGA Championship cratered.
Final round coverage drew a 3.0/6 overnight rating on CBS Sunday, a terrible number for the final round of a major tournament. The 3.0 rating is down a whopping 56% from the 6.8 for last year’s final round, which saw Woods win the event for the second straight year.
The 3.0 rating is also down 30% from a 4.3 in 2004, the last time the event aired opposite the Olympic games. 2004 was also the last year a non-U.S. player won the tournament. Additionally, the 3.0 marks the lowest overnight for the final round of a golf major since at least 1996.
Third round coverage drew an absurdly low 1.0/2 on Saturday, though that is due to play being rained out.
Overnight ratings for PGA Championship since 1996.
3.0/6: Padraig Harrington (Sun., 8/10/08, 2 PM CBS)
6.8/15: Tiger Woods (Sun., 8/12/07, 2:30 PM CBS)
7.2/16: Tiger Woods (Sun., 8/20/06, 2 PM CBS)
5.9/13: Phil Mickelson (Sun., 8/14/05, 2:30 PM CBS)
4.3/9: Vijay Singh (Sun., 8/15/04, 2 PM CBS)
4.8/11: Shaun Micheel (Sun., 8/17/03, 2 PM CBS)
8.0/17: Rich Beem (Sun., 8/18/02, 2 PM CBS)
6.1/14: David Toms (Sun., 8/19/01, 2 PM CBS)
10.0/23: Tiger Woods (Sun., 8/20/00, 1:30 PM CBS)
7.7/18: Tiger Woods (Sun., 8/15/99, 1:30 PM CBS)
6.1/14: Vijay Singh (Sun., 8/16/98, 2 PM CBS)
6.0/14: Davis Love III (Sun., 8/17/97, 1:30 PM CBS)
4.0: Mark Brooks (Sun., 8/11/96, CBS)
