Open Championship’s Final Round Viewership on NBC Dips 26%

NBC’s final round coverage of the Open Championship on Sunday drew 3.3 million viewers, a 26% decrease from last year’s tournament final round. Like last year, this year’s final round of the Open was televised on NBC but not streamed on the network’s digital platforms.

Sunday’s final round was the second most-watched sports broadcast of last week, trailing only Fox’s broadcast of the USA-Vietnam Women’s World Cup match that drew 5.26 million viewers, according to Sports TV Ratings. Ranking third for the week was the NASCAR Cup on the USA Network (2.8 million viewers), followed by Saturday’s Round 3 of The Open on NBC (2.6 million viewers).

By comparison, NBC’s broadcast in June of the final round of the U.S. Open averaged 5.4 million viewers, and its full four-round viewership average was 3.4 million across NBC, Peacock, and USA Network. 

This year’s British Open at Royal Liverpool Golf Club in Hoylake, England, was won by 36-year-old American Brian Harman. The Georgia native took home a $3 million first-place prize as part of the Open’s record $16.5 million prize pool.

Sunday’s Open Championship final round was also notable because of the presence of Yasir Al-Rumayyan, a key figure in the PGA Tour-LIV Golf merger. Al-Rumayyan, the governor of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, reportedly met at the course with R&A CEO Martin Slumbers. Slumbers did not rule out taking money from Saudi Arabia to invest in the Open, which has the lowest prize purse of golf’s four majors.