With the Olympics again taking center stage, the PGA Wyndham Championship failed to clear the high bar Tiger Woods set last year.
Final round coverage of the PGA Tour Wyndham Championship earned a 1.1 overnight rating on CBS Sunday afternoon, down a whopping 72% from last year (3.9), down 31% from 2014 (1.6M). The 1.1 is tied with 2012 as the lowest for final round coverage since 2008 (0.9) — not coincidentally, the two previous Olympic years.
The unusually steep decline is the result of this year’s Olympic competition and last year’s Woods-inflated numbers. With Woods in contention for his first win of the season — which would have propelled him into the FedEx Cup — final round overnights tied a 23-year high.
Sunday’s 1.1 is tied as the second-lowest final round overnight on broadcast this season, matching the Hartford Open two weeks earlier and ahead of only the John Deere Classic the previous week (0.8). Those tournaments also posted significant year-over-year declines, with the Hartford Open down 52% and John Deere Classic down 71%. As one might expect, all three aired opposite the Olympics.
Overnights have now declined for nine of the past 11 final round PGA windows, including each of the past five.
On Saturday, third round action had a 0.7 overnight — down 78% from last year (3.2) and down 30% from 2014 (1.0). The 0.7 is tied with 2008 as the lowest for third round coverage in at least a decade.
(Wknd. numbers via Sports Business Daily)
