Woods’s Comeback Win Gives Golf Its Best Rating Since U.S. Open
By Mason Levinson
March 30 (Bloomberg) -- Tiger Woods’s comeback win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational yesterday earned NBC the best preliminary rating for a golf event since his U.S. Open victory last June.
NBC Sports’ coverage was also the highest rated of any non-major U.S. PGA Tour tournament in more than two years, the General Electric Co.-owned network said, citing Nielsen Media Research data. Woods rallied from a five-shot deficit to Sean O’Hair at the start of the round and won the event with a 16- foot birdie putt on the last hole.
Fourth-round coverage of the tournament at Bay Hill Club and Lodge in Orlando, Florida, was seen in 4.9 percent of homes in the biggest U.S. markets, the best television performance at the event in seven years and a 23 percent increase from 2008, when Woods also won with a birdie at the final hole.
The rating peaked at 7.8 between 7:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. local time as Woods and O’Hair played their final holes, after college basketball’s tournament games had been completed.
Woods, the world’s No. 1 golfer, matched his biggest PGA Tour comeback to claim his 66th career win and the first since undergoing knee surgery following the U.S. Open title. He returned last month at the World Golf Championships match play event and then tied for ninth place in his first stroke play tournament, the WGC-CA Championship, two weeks ago in Miami.
He shot a 3-under-par 67 to finish at 5-under overall. O’Hair closed with a 3-over 73 and finished at 4-under.
Woods received $1.04 million for his sixth title at Bay Hill, where three of his wins have come with a birdie on the last hole.
Ratings points are the percentage of the estimated 111.3 million U.S. households with televisions that watched the broadcast. Preliminary ratings measure the number of viewers in the biggest U.S. cities. Final ratings include numbers from smaller television markets.
To contact the reporter on this story: Mason Levinson in New York at mlevinson@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: March 30, 2009 14:12 EDT |
