McIlroy wins again

Rory McIlroy won the Masters again on Sunday, becoming the first repeat champion at Augusta National since Tiger Woods in 2002. (pgatour.com) McIlroy finished at 12-under-par 276 after a final-round 71, one shot ahead of Scottie Scheffler, who closed with a 68 to finish at 11-under 277. (golfchannel.com) The final round turned several times. Golf Channel reported McIlroy trailed by as many as two shots on Sunday before regaining control around the turn and holding on at the 18th. (golfchannel.com) The win put McIlroy in a four-man group of back-to-back Masters champions with Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Woods. It was also the 90th Masters Tournament. (masters.com) The audience rose with the stakes. Sports Media Watch reported CBS averaged a 7.0 rating and just under 14 million viewers for Sunday’s final round, the tournament’s largest final-round audience since Jordan Spieth’s 2015 win and highest rating since 2018. (sportsmediawatch.com) Sports Media Watch also reported the telecast peaked at 20.05 million viewers in the 6:45 p.m. Eastern quarter-hour, and the full final hour averaged 19.3 million viewers. (sportsmediawatch.com) The same outlet said final-round ratings were up 13% and viewership rose 8% from McIlroy’s 2025 victory. Saturday’s third round averaged 8.11 million viewers, and ESPN’s first- and second-round coverage averaged 3.1 million. (sportsmediawatch.com) Those comparisons come with a caveat. Sports Media Watch noted Nielsen has changed how it counts out-of-home viewing and recently added more big-data measurement, which can complicate year-to-year comparisons with older Masters telecasts. (sportsmediawatch.com) Even with that warning, Augusta got the ending it wanted: McIlroy in another green jacket, Scheffler one shot back, and a Sunday finish that drew the biggest Masters television crowd in more than a decade. (sportsmediawatch.com)