U.S. Women’s Open Off to Worst Start in Years

The U.S. Women’s Open got off to a poor start for the second straight year.

First round coverage of the U.S. Women’s Open earned 175,000 viewers on Fox Sports 1 Thursday, down 17% from last year (210K), down 60% from 2014 on ESPN2 (437K), and the smallest audience for the opening round since at least 1994. That excludes rainout coverage in 2011, which had 127,000.

Fox Sports now owns the two smallest opening round audiences since at least ’94 (again excluding 2011). Overall, the three smallest audiences have occurred in the past four years, with 2013’s 223,000 ranking third.

Dating back to last year, all five rounds of the U.S. Women’s Open on Fox Sports have declined from the previous year.

(Thu. numbers via ShowBuzz Daily)