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If you want a lot of people to watch your golf tournament, one word of advice: Call it “The Masters.” And, if you can swing it, invite Tiger Woods.
There are four major PGA Tour events each year: The Masters in April, the PGA Championship in May, the U.S. Open in June, and the Open Championship (British Open) in July. But judging by the size of American TV audiences, the Masters has clearly won more hearts than the rest. It holds all 10 spots in our list of the most-watched PGA tournaments, according to data from SportsMediaWatch.
Three of those tournaments ended with a victorious Woods. And in all but one, he finished in the top 10, typically remaining within striking distance on the final day.
The 1997 Masters was the most watched PGA tournament of all time, with an average U.S. viewership of 20.3 million people tuning in to see Woods win his first major championship.
The second-most-watched PGA Tour event came four years later when Woods knocked off David Duval for his second green jacket with 19.2 million people watching. But it wasn’t all Woods—16.7 million people watched Phil Mickelson come from a stroke down to defeat Lee Westwood in 2010.
The closest any of the other three major championships comes to our list is the 2002 U.S. Open, averaging 13.1 million viewers. Guess who won that tournament? Ding ding ding. Tiger Woods won by three strokes over Phil Mickelson.
A tournament’s viewership numbers fluctuate between rounds. A captivating Thursday and Friday can lead to huge numbers over the weekend. That was the case with the 2000 PGA Championship, when 17.6 million homes tuned in for the playoff between Woods and Bob May. (How’s that for some trivia?)
Alas, TV viewership has declined over the last few decades. Not even Tiger’s triumphant return to Augusta in 2019 could break into the top 10, managing just 10.8 million viewers. The PGA and U.S. Open Championships haven’t cracked the 10-million mark since 2009 and 2008, respectively. (The British Open ranks a distant fourth in viewer interest.)
Still, people tune in when the stakes are huge. In 2025, when Rory McIlroy’s sudden-death win at The Masters earned him a career grand slam, audiences flocked to their screens. The 12.7 million people who watched the final round were the most for a golf tournament in seven years.
Most-Watched PGA Tour Events
Here is the list of the top 10 most-watched golf majors based on average U.S. viewership (including the winner). The list was compiled using historical data from SportsMediaWatch going back to 1995.
- 1997 Masters: 20.3M Tiger Woods
- 2001 Masters: 19.2M Tiger Woods
- 2010 Masters: 16.7M Phil Mickelson
- 1998 Masters: 15.6M Mark O’Meara
- 2011 Masters: 15.3M Charl Schwartzel
- 2007 Masters: 14.9M Zach Johnson
- 2013 Masters: 14.7M Adam Scott
- 2005 Masters: 14.6M Tiger Woods
- 2009 Masters: 14.3M Angel Cabrera
- 2015 Masters: 14.0M Jordan Spieth
Related lists:
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