Record-Low Ratings For U.S. Women’s Open

The U.S. Women’s Open posted its lowest final round rating in at least 30 years.

Final round coverage of the U.S. Women’s Open earned a 0.6 final rating and 790,000 viewers on FOX Sunday afternoon, down 31% in ratings and 40% in viewership from last year (0.9, 1.3M) and down a tick and 19% respectively from 2015 (0.7, 970K).

The 0.6 rating is the lowest on record for the U.S. Women’s Open (dating back to 1988), falling below the previous mark of 0.7 in 2013 and 2015. Final round ratings have now failed to crack the 1.0 mark in seven of the past eight years.

Sunday’s telecast was also the least-watched final round since at least 1994, falling below the previous mark of 970,000 in ’15.

The U.S. Women’s Open ranks third out of the last five LPGA majors. It earned a smaller audience than the final rounds of the Women’s PGA Championship two weeks earlier (840K) and the Women’s British Open last year (858K), but topped this year’s Dinah Shore (551K) and last year’s Evian Championship (644K).

For the weekend, Sunday’s final round trailed both rounds of the PGA John Deere Classic on CBS and the final round of the European Tour Scottish Open on NBC (0.6, 846K). It did top competing coverage of the celebrity golf championship on NBC (0.5, 761K).

Third round action on Saturday had a 0.5 and 653,000, flat in ratings and down 11% in viewership from last year (0.5, 732K) but up a tick and 8% respectively from 2015 (0.4, 605K). First and second round figures were not immediately available.