By A PGA Championship laden with drama — on and off the course — finished with a double-digit gain for Sunday’s final round.
Sunday’s final round of the PGA Championship averaged a 2.9 rating and 4.96 million viewers on CBS, up 8% in ratings and 10% in viewership from last year (2.6, 4.52M), despite facing an NBA playoff Game 7 for the first time. (The NBA game — Pacers-Knicks — averaged a 3.4 and 6.45 million on ABC.)
This year marks only the second time that the final round of the PGA has faced any NBA competition; the last time was three years ago, when Phil Mickelson’s shocking win comfortably outdrew a Lakers-Suns opening round Game 1.
Xander Schaffule’s win, which peaked with 8.42 million from 6:45-7 PM ET, still ranks on the low side historically. This year’s audience tops only last year and 2017 (4.91M) as the lowest for final round coverage of the tournament in the past 12 years.
For the weekend, the final round ranked fifth among sportscasts behind three NBA playoff games and the race segment of The Preakness Stakes (5.30M).
Third round coverage averaged a 2.0 and 3.52 million on Saturday, flat and 9% respectively from last year (2.0, 3.22M). Lead-in coverage on ESPN drew a 0.7 (-6%) and 1.21 million (+2%) on Saturday and a 0.7 and 1.12 million (flat) on Sunday.
This year’s PGA Championship is likely to be best remembered for the incident involving Scottie Scheffler on Friday, in which the world #1 was arrested and detained while trying to enter the course. Not surprisingly, Friday’s coverage posted by far the biggest increase of the tournament, with viewership up 18% for ESPN’s main window. Additional details on Friday’s viewership are available in this article.
