With golf’s biggest TV draw entering the weekend in the lead, the PGA’s FedEx Cup got off to a better start in the Nielsens.
Final round coverage of The Northern Trust (nee The Barclays), the first leg of the PGA Tour FedEx Cup, earned a 2.1 rating and 3.1 million viewers on CBS Sunday — up 17% in ratings and 19% in viewership from last year (1.8, 2.6M) and down 9% and 8% respectively from 2015 (2.3, 3.4M).
Dustin Johnson‘s win, in which he chased down 54-hole leader Jordan Spieth to force a playoff, was the highest rated and most-watched PGA telecast (excluding majors) since Spieth’s win at the Hartford Open in June (2.3, 3.5M).
For the season, it delivered the fifth-largest non-major audience behind the final rounds at Pebble Beach — won by Spieth (4.2M) — the Players Championship (3.7M), the aforementioned Hartford Open and the inaugural Mexico tournament (3.46M).
Of the past 18 PGA windows on broadcast, Sunday’s telecast was the 12th to post an increase in ratings and/or viewership. That excludes The Greenbrier Classic, which was cancelled last year.
On Saturday, third round coverage had a 1.4 (+8%) and 2.0 million (+12%). Lead-in coverage on Golf Channel had a 0.47 (-2%) and 686,000 (+4%) on Saturday and a 0.49 (+7%) and 733,000 on Sunday (+8%).
[Wknd. numbers via ShowBuzz Daily 8.29]
