One of the world’s most celebrated golfers winning at a sport’s iconic venue produced a robust audience for CBS this weekend. The final round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am averaged 3.3 million viewers, making it the most-watched final round since Daniel Berger’s victory in 2021, which attracted 4.2 million viewers while Jordan Spieth and Patrick Cantlay tied for third that year. This year’s final round saw a significant 41% increase from 2023, when a weather-affected round forced a Monday finish for Justin Rose’s eventual win. In contrast, the previous year’s final round was abandoned due to inclement weather, leading to Wyndham Clark being crowned champion after just 54 holes, with a replay of Saturday’s coverage drawing 1.2 million viewers.
CBS Sports’ coverage of @attproam delivers most-watched @PGATOUR final round on any network since last March: pic.twitter.com/6BAZM9Ypmc
— CBS Sports PR (@CBSSportsGang) February 4, 2025
Rory McIlroy’s win marked CBS’s most-watched PGA Tour broadcast since the final round of The Players Championship last March, with coverage peaking at nearly 4 million viewers. Additionally, Josh Carpenter of Sports Business Journal noted that Golf Channel’s lead-in coverage from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. ET averaged 1.06 million viewers, making it the most-watched lead-in since last year’s WM Phoenix Open and the second-highest on record.
Some data from Golf Channel: The final round lead-in earned 1.06M viewers, the most-watched lead-in on the tour since Phoenix last year (1.2M). Overall for Pebble, it’s the second most-watched lead-in ever, behind the final round in 2021.
— Josh Carpenter (@JoshACarpenter) February 4, 2025
Despite these impressive viewership metrics, not all golf fans were satisfied—specifically regarding one element of Sunday’s broadcast. During the transition from Golf Channel’s early coverage to CBS, viewers missed witnessing the tournament leaders, including eventual champion Rory McIlroy, navigate two of the most recognizable holes at Pebble Beach: No. 6 and No. 7. While fans expressed their frustration over this oversight, CBS received praise for the rest of the broadcast. Nevertheless, it’s a promising start for the PGA Tour, which faced significant viewership drops throughout the last season. It seems that when a prominent player like McIlroy contends at a venue he refers to as a “cathedral of golf,” fans are eager to tune in.
