PGA Tournament Draws Huge Ratings For CBS: Over 12 Million Watch Tournament's End

NEW YORK — Y.E. Yang's upset win over Tiger Woods in the PGA Championship was a television hit that even picked up extra viewers for CBS's interview with quarterback Michael Vick.

Nielsen Media Research says its overnight measurements of big cities found ratings for the golf tournament up 150 percent over 2008. Only 4 million people watched the final round last year. Woods was injured and didn't play in the tournament, and the Summer Olympics were televised at the same time.

Nielsen and CBS don't yet have a precise estimate of the audience nationally for this year. In the metered markets, it was the best PGA final round since 2002, when Woods lost by a stroke to Rich Beem.

The golf tournament led directly into "60 Minutes," which featured Vick's interview about his prison time for running a dogfighting operation. CBS estimates that some 12.6 million people were watching the network between 7 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, when the golf tournament ended and "60 Minutes" began with its interview with Vick, who signed with the Philadelphia Eagles last week.

The tournament brought more people to CBS, and to the Vick interview, than would normally be watching on a summer Sunday. Typically this summer, about 8 million people have watched an episode of "60 Minutes."

Woods is always a big draw for the TV networks. The metered markets show that ratings for the final two rounds of this year's PGA tournament are the third highest since 1986. That ties with Woods' first win in 1999, and trails Woods' second win in 2000 and the 2002 tournament.

Nielsen had no immediate estimates on how many people were watching overseas, particularly in Yang's home country of South Korea. South Korea's president, Lee Myung-bak, stayed up late into the night to watch the tournament live.

The tournament also did well for TNT, which televised the first two rounds and morning action on Saturday and Sunday. TNT's average of 1.88 million viewers was up 79 percent over 2008, according to Nielsen.

Turner Sports and PGA.com also drew a record number of visitors to their Web sites over the weekend.

Comments

[jewellthief]

as someone who no longer drinks the espn-made tigger koolaid, this was GREAT to see!!! Congrats Y. E. Yang!!

[lukebenward]

In even MORE mind-numbing news, they just annouced that the LPGA got 24 million viewers.

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Psych!!!!

[Tom Kulenski]

The irony is that Tiger Woods is half asian, so this guy is not the first Asian to win this....

[johnnynyc]

Don't start, ok?

[originaldna]

You do know that Half this or half that when it comes to African people in America don't mean a lot right? Put Tiger or Obama on the streets with a pure blood white and Asian person and see which one get's a Cab first or profiled. Plus you'r forgetting that one drop rule.

[johnnynyc]

American Idol at its peak got 3x the viewers so I guess "huge" is all relative.

It's like Fox crowing about being tops in cable news when their numbers can't touch the networks.

[Johan Kim]

Yang is winner!!

[Sung Lim]

Yeah!

[FHTB]

I never quite got the Tiger Woods phenomenon­...I guess it's the same phenomenon as Susan Boyle: homely person proves that they have astounding talent...b­ecause, let's be real here, folks...Ti­ger is one very HOMELY guy...now I am not saying a golfer should be drop dead gorgeous, because, frankly, not many are, but Tiger is not the most attractive AA man in the world.
I certainly don't get golf on TV in general...­about as exciting as watching paint dry.

[Mauiboy]

Everyone has a bad day, but Y.E Yang made the best of it by staying in the match, going ahead and never letting Tiger back in. He used a bit of the psyche-out on Tiger as well. Asian golfers have a strong mental attitude that makes up for a lack of physical strength. This is great for golf in general and golf in Asia in particular. Golf in China especially is growing exponentially, so this win is just the beginning of a wave in the interest in golf. We have seen it in woman's golf, so it's only a matter of time.

[surfcitysteven]

It was so cool to watch Tiger putt like me for an afternoon.

[datone]

He certainly earned it. Yang made all the shots that Tiger missed. His lifting of his Taylor Made bag over his head was priceless. There was no better player in this tournament.

[Whitley2009]

I will never forget Yang's approach shot on the 18th, over the tree on the left, and sticking it 2 ft from the cup. He earned that championship. And, I can't wait for Tiger and Yang to play in the Masters next year.

Yang displays the same terrific mental discipline Tiger learned from his father Col. Earl Woods.

I assume all Korean golfers and fans are inspired and now planning world domination on the links and courses.

[harriettubman]

I can't believe how expensive golf is. It's even more expensive in Japan--over a million $ to belong to some clubs!!! What's the thrill to cost that much????

Yang is Asian too so it was great to see another kind of face in golf too. Probably why so many watched this time.

[Mauiboy]

Prices have come down in the last ten years since the bubble burst. Why is it so expensive? It's the due to the lack of available space and a chance to get away from the hustle and bustle of daily life.

[humboldtgold]

All I have to say is that Yang pulled a tiger on the 18th. That 3 rescue shot into the green was pure magic. The chip in for eagle was what you have to do to beat the guy. He played solid all day against Tiger and it shows that he can be beat. It's great for golf!

As for the TNT Sunday morning coverage, I agree that they are HORRIBLE covering the action. The whole Woods parking lot lust was a joke.

[cat70]

TNT did not show much of the golf "action" on Sunday morning. What a joke. While there was golfing going on, they instead showed long stretches of an empty parking space awaiting the arrival of Woods. A few minutes later, they had a camera on his black Mercedes SUV pulling onto the grounds. We got to see five minutes of his car, then him exiting the car, pulling up his pants, putting his cap on, and walking into the clubhouse. All this while there were actual golfers on the course, hitting actual golf shots. Great T.V. A bit later they kept a camera on him for 15-20 minutes, almost solid, on the putting green, then walking back to the clubhouse to dodge a few raindrops, then returning to practice his putting. I don't know what happened next, because that was all I could take. I imagine we saw him go to the practice range. Why can't we just watch golf anymore?

[uneeda]

but why is tiger so rude ?

[VikingQuest]

Rude?

It's called a competitor.

Only losers like losing.

[jukesgrrl]

It's perfectly possible for someone to be a terrific competitor AND be gracious. Roberto Clemente springs immediately to mind. He not only was gracious and one of the greatest baseball players ever, but also a true humanitarian. I have seen Woods behaving rudely both on and off the course.

[1sparrow]

i have never seen tiger miss so many putts. what a scam. i actually like this cinderella story. yang is 37. good fellow.

[smiththomas]

Yang was so cool and just kept hanging in there. Tiger kept hitting his puts to the left and this upset him like other things to the left.