PGA Championship Has Highest Viewing Spike Since 2009

After an excitement-filled final round that saw Brooks Koepka fight off a resurgent Tiger Woods and Adam Scott to secure a victory, the major saw its highest viewership ratings in near a decade. Even more, viewership was up an unreal 69% from last year’s event that Justin Thomas won. This is a positive sign as the tournament moves up in the calendar next season.

While it looked like Koepka was going to run away with the event, entering the day with a two-shot lead over the field, he was chased for most of the day by Justin Thomas, Tiger Woods, and Adam Scott, all of which came within one shot of the lead or tied Koepka at the top at some point. It has been called one of golf’s most exciting rounds in recent years.

CBS Sports’ Final Round @PGAChampionship Coverage Scores Big: https://t.co/vWLrtTWqm4 pic.twitter.com/QGVAJRNUOz

— CBS Sports PR (@CBSSportsGang) August 13, 2018

While the close contest certainly brought in a large audience itself, much of the viewership is being credited to Tiger’s competitiveness. He donned his classic Sunday Red apparel and went out to fire a -6, 64 on the final day to be the runner-up to Koepka. And if the cheers that were coming out of the tournament after all of Tiger’s shots were any indication, Tiger-mania definitely had an impact.

Adding more to this theory is the last PGA Championship to have such high viewership for the final round. Back in 2009, the ratings spiked because Tiger was duking it out with relatively unknown Y.E. Yang. In that tournament, Yang beat Tiger in a one on one showdown that resulted in Tiger’s first and only loss after leading a tournament for 54 holes.

While this is certainly Koepka’s accomplishment, winning three majors in one year’s time, Tiger has emerged as possibly the biggest winner for the PGA TOUR this week. And if he continues to improve and compete at the highest levels, I’m sure that ratings will continue to climb at all events.

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