Golf’s fifth major fell victim to the sport’s TV ratings slump.
Final round coverage of the PGA Tour Players Championship earned a 2.6 overnight rating on NBC Sunday afternoon, down 16% from last year (3.1), down a third from 2015 (3.9), and tied as the tournament’s lowest Sunday overnight since at least 1998.
Si Woo Kim‘s win, which peaked at a 3.7 from 6:30-7 PM ET, matched the low set in 2014 and 2005. It is worth noting that some of the biggest names in golf were absent from the top of the leaderboard, with Jordan Spieth missing the cut, Rory McIlroy (T35), Phil Mickelson (T41) and Jason Day (T60) well out of contention, and Tiger Woods all-but-retired.
Despite the lower numbers, Sunday’s telecast delivered the second-highest PGA Tour overnight of the season. The final round at Pebble Beach had a 2.9 on CBS in February. It ranked second for the weekend among sporting events behind Game 1 of the NBA Western Conference Finals on ABC (5.6).
On Saturday, third round action pulled a 2.1 overnight — down 9% from last year and 2014 (2.3 both years). The telecast averaged a 2.7 from 7-7:30 PM ET, when it ran into NBC’s scheduled coverage of an NHL playoff game, which had a 1.9 overnight.
(Wknd. numbers from NBC Sports)
