When Tiger Woods Is In Contention, TV Ratings Soar
The spike in 2008 was driven by Tiger Woods’ exciting tie on the final hole of regulation and then 18 hole playoff victory, with a broken leg. How high could TV ratings go this year?
Full 1971-2008 US Open Golf TV Ratings Detail:
| Year | Viewers | HH Rating | Share | Telecasts | Network | Winner |
| 1971 | 6.4 | 25 | 2 | ABC | Lee Trevino | |
| 1972 | 9.1 | 28 | 2 | ABC | Jack Nicklaus | |
| 1973 | 9.0 | 30 | 2 | ABC | Johnny Miller | |
| 1974 | 7.3 | 25 | 2 | ABC | Hale Irwin | |
| 1975 | 6.8 | 23 | 3 | ABC | Lou Graham | |
| 1976 | 7.3 | 23 | 2 | ABC | Jerry Pate | |
| 1977 | 5.5 | 21 | 2 | ABC | Hubert Green | |
| 1978 | 5.8 | 22 | 2 | ABC | Andy North | |
| 1979 | 5.2 | 19 | 2 | ABC | Hale Irwin | |
| 1980 | 6.1 | 20 | 2 | ABC | Jack Nicklaus | |
| 1981 | 7.5 | 25 | 2 | ABC | David Graham | |
| 1982 | 6.9 | 21 | 2 | ABC | Tom Watson | |
| 1983 | 5.9 | 18 | 3 | ABC | Larry Nelson | |
| 1984 | 5.9 | 17 | 3 | ABC | Fuzzy Zoeller* | |
| 1985 | 6.3 | 19 | 2 | ABC | Andy North | |
| 1986 | 5.6 | 19 | 2 | ABC | Raymond Floyd | |
| 1987 | 8.85 | 6.8 | 19 | 2 | ABC | Scott Simpson |
| 1988 | 5.31 | 4.3 | 13 | 5 | ABC | Curtis Strange* |
| 1989 | 6.41 | 5.0 | 16 | 2 | ABC | Curtis Strange |
| 1990 | 6.30 | 5.1 | 17 | 3 | ABC | Hale Irwin* |
| 1991 | 5.30 | 4.4 | 14 | 3 | ABC | Payne Stewart* |
| 1992 | 3.63 | 5.7 | 17 | 2 | ABC | Tom Kite |
| 1993 | 5.86 | 4.8 | 16 | 2 | ABC | Lee Janzen |
| 1994 | 5.76 | 4.6 | 15 | 3 | ABC | Ernie Els* |
| 1995 | 6.26 | 5.0 | 17 | 2 | NBC | Corey Pavin |
| 1996 | 5.32 | 4.2 | 14 | 4 | NBC | Steve Jones |
| 1997 | 7.09 | 5.5 | 18 | 4 | NBC | Ernie Els |
| 1998 | 5.91 | 4.6 | 14 | 4 | NBC | Lee Janzen |
| 1999 | 6.69 | 5.1 | 16 | 4 | NBC | Payne Stewart |
| 2000 | 8.24 | 6.0 | 16 | 4 | NBC | Tiger Woods |
| 2001 | 7.62 | 5.5 | 16 | 4 | NBC | Retief Goosen* |
| 2002 | 10.75 | 7.5 | 20 | 2 | NBC | Tiger Woods |
| 2003 | 5.72 | 4.2 | 12 | 4 | NBC | Jim Furyk |
| 2004 | 6.31 | 4.4 | 13 | 4 | NBC | Retief Goosen |
| 2005 | 5.82 | 4.2 | 12 | 4 | NBC | Michael Campbell |
| 2006 | 5.00 | 3.5 | 9 | 4 | NBC | Geoff Ogilvy |
| 2007 | 6.49 | 4.5 | 12 | 4 | NBC | Angel Cabrera |
| 2008 | 7.83 | 5.3 | 13 | 5 | NBC | Tiger Woods* |
*playoff
Nielsen TV Ratings Data: ©2009 Nielsen Media Research, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
I’m seeing a trend with this Tiger Woods fellow…
talk about comaring apples to oranges. You wouldn’t happen to have access to the data comparing just the sunday telecasts, would you? 2002 only counts the much more popular weekend telecasts which gives it an odd spike.
dave, indeed, the number of telecasts included each year has a huge effect on the averages. Sadly, that’s all the data we have.
Hi Bill,
Sorry if I missed this, but are these ratings for the entire tournament, Thursday-Sunday? Appreciate your help, Kevin
Kevin, some years are and some aren’t, note the number of telecasts. 2 telecast years are weekend only. It’s too bad that we don’t have the same set of days for each year’s data, but this is all we have from Nielsen.