Masters drew huge TV audience

Rory McIlroy’s second straight Masters win drew the biggest United States television audience for a Masters final round in 11 years. (golfweek.usatoday.com) CBS said Sunday’s final round averaged 13.995 million viewers and peaked at 20.1 million between 7 p.m. and 7:15 p.m. Eastern time. The network said that was up 8 percent from the 12.71 million viewers who watched McIlroy win in 2025. (golfweek.usatoday.com) Sports Media Watch reported the telecast posted a 7.0 household rating, the highest Masters final-round rating since Patrick Reed’s 7.9 in 2018. The same report said it was the most-watched Masters Sunday since Jordan Spieth’s 14.0 million viewers in 2015. (sportsmediawatch.com) The audience came during the 90th Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club, where McIlroy became the fourth player to win back-to-back green jackets. Yahoo Sports said the final round turned into “must-watch” television as McIlroy fell behind and then rallied late. (masters.com) (sports.yahoo.com) Several outlets tied the ratings jump to the shape of the round itself, which featured repeated lead changes instead of a runaway finish. The Big Lead said the final 18 holes delivered “many lead changes,” while Yahoo Sports described a tournament that stayed in doubt deep into the broadcast window. (thebiglead.com) (sports.yahoo.com) The strong numbers did not spare CBS from criticism over how it showed the action. Kevin Kisner, now NBC Sports’ lead golf analyst, said on SiriusXM that CBS missed live shots and delayed key moments during Sunday’s coverage. (usatoday.com) CBS lead announcer Jim Nantz pushed back on that criticism. Nantz told Yahoo Sports that live television is difficult and called the CBS production crew “the best in the business.” (sports.yahoo.com) The split reaction captured the day: a final round big enough to pull nearly 14 million viewers, and messy enough to leave rivals and viewers arguing about what they did and did not see. (golfweek.usatoday.com) (usatoday.com)