Sans Tiger Woods and lost in the pack among higher-profile sporting events, overnight ratings plunged for golf’s Buick Invitational.
Final round coverage of the Buick Invitational drew a 2.1/4 overnight rating on CBS Sunday, down a whopping 54% from a 4.6/9 for final round coverage last year, when the event aired on the last weekend in January.
Last year’s Buick Invitational featured Tiger Woods winning for the fourth straight year.
The 2.1 overnight is the lowest for the Buick Invitational since at least 1999, and marks only the second time in the past eleven years that final round coverage has drawn less than a 3.0 overnight rating. Surprisingly, the other such occasion featured Woods winning the event.
Since ’99, the final round of the Buick Invitational has averaged a 5.1 overnight rating. In the six years that Tiger Woods has won the event, the final round has averaged a 5.3.
Overnight ratings for the Buick Invitational.
2.1: Nick Watney (Sun., 2/8/09, 3 PM CBS)
4.6: Tiger Woods (Sun., 1/27/08, 3 PM CBS)
5.6: Tiger Woods (Sun., 1/28/07, 3 PM CBS)
5.9: Tiger Woods (Sun., 1/29/06, 3 PM CBS)
2.4: Tiger Woods (Sun., 1/23/05, 3:30 PM ABC)
4.7: John Daly (Sun., 2/15/04, 3 PM CBS)
6.9: Tiger Woods (Sun., 2/16/03, 3 PM CBS)
3.6: Jos? Mar?a Olaz?bal (Sun., 2/10/02, 3 PM CBS)
6.3: Phil Mickelson (Sun., 2/11/01, 3 PM CBS)
8.0: Phil Mickelson (Sun., 2/13/00, 3 PM CBS)
6.4: Tiger Woods (Sun., 2/14/99, 4 PM CBS)
