AUGUSTA, Ga. — Predictably, with Tiger Woods not in the field, the television ratings were down for this year’s Masters.
Without Woods, who is recovering from back surgery he underwent two weeks ago, the 2014 Masters — at which Bubba Watson beat Jordan Spieth and Jonas Blixt by three shots to win his second career green jacket in three years — earned a 7.8 rating for Sunday afternoon’s final round. The 7.8 rating means that 7.8 percent of American households tuned into the Masters during that time.
The ratings were down 24 percent from last year’s Masters finale, in which Adam Scott beat Angel Cabrera in a playoff, according to Sports Business Daily. That Masters had a 10.2 rating. Sunday’s Masters final-round rating was the lowest final-round rating since Phil Mickelson’s 2004 win, which had a 7.2 rating.
Interestingly, the highest rating in the last 10 years was for Mickelson’s win in 2012, which got a 12.0 rating. Woods’ last win in 2005 got a 10.3 rating.
Woods did not play in the Masters for the first time since 1994.
In the opening round — broadcast by ESPN — Woods’ absence had a distinct effect on ratings. ESPN averaged a 1.8 fast-national rating and 2.5 million viewers for Friday’s second-round coverage of the tournament, down 40 percent for both compared to last year’s event, which drew a 3.0 rating and 4.2 million viewers.
For early-round coverage on Thursday and Friday, ESPN averaged a 1.6 rating and 2.2 million viewers, down 36 percent and 37 percent, respectively, from a 2.5 rating and 3.5 million viewers last year.