Breaking a streak of increases, the final tournament of the PGA Tour season hit a multi-year low.
Final round coverage of The Tour Championship, the final event in the PGA FedEx Cup, earned a 1.4 rating and 2.1 million viewers on NBC last Sunday — down 13% in ratings and 17% in viewership from last year (1.6, 2.5M) and down 13% in both measures from 2015 (1.6, 2.4M).
Xander Schauffele‘s win, in which Justin Thomas clinched the FedEx Cup, was the least-watched final round of The Tour Championship since 2014 (2.0M). It tied the lowest rating since 2010 (1.0).
Sunday’s drop was the first for the PGA on broadcast television since the final round of the PGA Championship in August.
On Saturday, third round coverage a 1.1 (+22%) and 1.7 million (+26%), and the tournament’s largest third round audience since 2014 (2.1M).
Lead-in coverage on Golf Channel had a 0.42 (+75%) and 592,000 (+88%) on Saturday and a 0.31 (+3%) and 456,000 (+6%) on Sunday. The Saturday increase was particularly pronounced because last year’s window aired in an earlier timeslot.
[Wknd. numbers from NBC Sports, ShowBuzz Daily 9.26]
