Masters ratings down substantially; final round viewership lowest in more than a decade

Sergio Garcia won the Masters on Sunday, ending a famous Majorless draught and providing a compelling final-round storyline.

But with Tiger Woods absent from the event, Rory McIlroy out of the running, Dustin Johnson on the sidelines and Jordan Spieth mid-implosion, the ratings for the event were not impressive.

According to Sports Media Watch, the final round was the lowest since 2004 and the second lowest since at least 1995.

Sports Business Daily’s Austin Karp provided some more context, noting the low percentage of households using televisions:

CBS draws 7.6 overnight rating for The Masters final round. Lowest in at least a decade. For some reason, HUT levels down 9% yesterday

— Austin Karp (@AustinKarp) April 10, 2017

The duel between Sergio and Rose yesterday at The Masters was down 11% from Danny Willet's 3-stroke win last year

— Austin Karp (@AustinKarp) April 10, 2017

Tough to spin the 7.6 overnight for The Masters, but it is still well above US Open or PGA Championship.

— Austin Karp (@AustinKarp) April 10, 2017

Another comp on the 7.6 overnight for The Masters: the last playoff at Augusta, 2013, drew a 10.2 for Adam Scott's win over Angel Cabrera

— Austin Karp (@AustinKarp) April 10, 2017

People did watch Masters when still close at finish. From 6pm ET until finish around 730pm, grew from 8.0 to 9.1 before peak at 11.2

— Austin Karp (@AustinKarp) April 10, 2017

Bad ratings for the final round of the Masters were in line with the rest of the tournament. On Thursday, first round viewership was down 11 percent from last year and was one of the least watched Masters rounds of the past decade, per Sports Media Watch. Friday’s second day was even more disappointing, down 15 percent in viewership. The third round on Saturday was reportedly down 19 percent from last year’s ratings and 29 percent from 2015.

As SMW points out, most of the least watched Masters rounds we’ve seen in recent years have come in years when Tiger wasn’t playing. Golf went all in on one superstar, and now that he’s routinely absent (and usually uncompetitive), the sport is lagging a bit. It certainly didn’t help this year that young stars like Spieth and McIroy weren’t in the running on the back nine or that Johnson bailed on the first day and Bubba Watson missed the cut.

All that, plus the dip in households using televisions, resulted in a notably small audience for golf’s biggest event.