The trend of declining ratings for televised golf has continued into 2009.
The final round of the Buick Invitational last Sunday drew a 2.0/4 rating on CBS, down a whopping 52% from a 4.2 for last year’s final round, which aired in January and featured Tiger Woods winning for the fourth straight year.
Through two tournaments, final round coverage of PGA Tour events is averaging a 1.7 rating on CBS, down 48% from a 3.3 through the first two PGA events on broadcast last year.
The 2.0 rating is the lowest for the final round of the Buick Invitational since at least 1997, and marks only the second time during that span that final round coverage has drawn a sub-3.0 rating.
Final round ratings for Buick Invitational.
2.0/4: Nick Watney (Sun., 2/8/09, 3 PM CBS)
4.2: Tiger Woods (Sun., 1/27/08, 3 PM CBS)
5.3/11: Tiger Woods (Sun., 1/28/07, 3 PM CBS)
5.8/12: Tiger Woods (Sun., 1/29/06, 3 PM CBS)
2.3/4: Tiger Woods (Sun., 1/23/05, 3:30 PM ABC)
4.4/9: John Daly (Sun., 2/15/04, 3 PM CBS)
6.1/12: Tiger Woods (Sun., 2/16/03, 3 PM CBS)
3.9/8: Jos? Mar?a Olaz?bal (Sun., 2/10/02, 3 PM CBS)
6.9/14: Phil Mickelson (Sun., 2/11/01, 3 PM CBS)
8.0/18: Phil Mickelson (Sun., 2/13/00, 3 PM CBS)
6.3/15: Tiger Woods (Sun., 2/14/99, 4 PM CBS)
3.3/8: Scott Simpson (Sun., 2/8/98, 2:30 PM NBC)
4.1/10: Mark O’Meara (Sun., 2/9/97, 3 PM NBC)
