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The U.S. Presidents Cup team’s dramatic comeback victory over the International squad on Sunday delivered a big boost in TV ratings.
NBC drew 2 million viewers for the final round, up from the 1.37 million viewers the network averaged in 2024, when the U.S. won comfortably in Montreal.
The U.S. mounted the largest final-round comeback in the history of the biennial team golf event, overcoming a 10.5–7.5 deficit entering Sunday, and ultimately earning 9.5 of the 12 points available in that day’s 12 singles matches. U.S. President Donald Trump was in attendance; he served as honorary chairman of the event, greeted players on the first tee, and participated in the trophy ceremony Sunday evening.
Despite the uptick this year, viewership for the Presidents Cup this decade is still lower than what it was before the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Here is the final-round viewership of the last five editions of the Presidents Cup played in U.S.-friendly time zones, all on NBC:
- 2026: 2 million (Medinah Country Club, Chicago)
- 2024: 1.37 million (Royal Montreal Golf Club)
- 2022: 1.89 million (Quail Hollow Club, Charlotte)
- 2017: 2.3 million (Liberty National, New Jersey)
- 2013: 2.7 million (Muirfield Village, Ohio)
In 2019, Golf Channel averaged a cable-record 1.74 million viewers for the final round at Royal Melbourne in Australia, which aired live in primetime in the U.S. The Americans came back from a 10–8 deficit to win with Tiger Woods as a playing captain. The 2015 Presidents Cup in South Korea was aired on tape delay in the U.S.
The PGA Tour’s 2026 season saw a modest viewership increase over 2025, with weekend coverage this year, excluding the four major championships, averaging 2.7 million viewers on CBS and NBC.
Early-Round Presidents Cup Ratings
Golf Channel averaged 743,000 viewers across its 12-plus hours of live Presidents Cup coverage from Thursday through Saturday last week. That’s up 32% compared to the network’s coverage in 2024 from Montreal.
Thursday’s opening round coverage on Golf Channel averaged 798,000 viewers, which was up 58% over 2024, making it the most-watched Presidents Cup first round since 2017 at Liberty National. All three rounds on Golf Channel saw viewership gains over 2024; the network aired Friday’s entire round but just one hour of coverage on Saturday morning.
Meanwhile, viewership for Golf Channel’s Live From the Presidents Cup studio show was up 12% across its nearly 20 hours of coverage, averaging 108,000 viewers, with hosts Rich Lerner, Brandel Chamblee, and Paul McGinley breaking down the action at Medinah.
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