PGA Championship draws 7.5/17 overnight on Sunday.

Tiger Woods did not win the season’s final major, but once again his presence resulted in big ratings.

Final round coverage of the PGA Championship, won by Y.E. Yang with Woods finishing second, drew a 7.5/17 overnight rating on CBS Sunday — up a whopping 150% from last year’s 3.0/6, up 10% from a 6.8/15 in ’07, and the highest overnight for the final round of the PGA Championship since 2002 (8.0/17).

Ratings peaked at an 11.6/24 from 7-7:15 PM.

The huge increase in ratings can not only be attributed to the presence of Woods, who led entering the final round, but also to the extremely poor ratings the event drew last year — when Woods did not play, and the event aired opposite the Olympics.

The 7.5 for final round coverage is the second-highest overnight of the year for a golf telecast, behind only an 8.8 overnight for the final round of The Masters. Additionally, the 7.5 marks the highest overnight for any sporting event since the MLB All-Star Game drew a 10.4 in July.

Third round coverage on Saturday drew a 4.9/13 overnight rating, up an astronomical 390% from last year’s 1.0/2, and up 7% from a 4.6/12 in ’07. Keep in mind that last year’s third round coverage was rained-out.

Overall, CBS averaged a 6.2/15 overnight rating for its two-day coverage of the PGA Championship, tied as the third-highest two-day average for the event since ’86.

Overnight ratings for third and final round coverage of the PGA Championship since ’96.
* Third round coverage in ’08 was rained out
** The 3.1 overnight for third round coverage in ’04 does not include markets affected by Hurricane Charley
^ The 5.9 overnight for final round coverage in ’05 is for Sunday coverage only; play was suspended and the tournament concluded on a Monday