Scheffler Pushes The Open to Largest Audience Since 2022 at St Andrews

Scottie Scheffler’s commanding four-shot victory over Harris English at The Open Championship pulled in an average of 4.1 million final-round viewers at Royal Portrush for NBC. The draw was a 21% increase over last year’s final round with Xander Schauffele emerging as the Open champion at the Royal Troon Golf Club in Scotland.

Viewership peaked on Sunday at 6.1 million from 1:30 p.m. to 1:45 p.m. ET as Scheffler marched toward the third leg of the career grand slam, and hometown favorite Rory McIlroy made his way down the stretch finishing in the top 10.

Despite being the lowest-rated major of the season—partially due to the time difference between the U.S. and Northern Ireland—The Open saw its best overall ratings since 2022 at the famed Old Course at St. Andrew’s.

NBC Sports’ coverage of the early rounds (including on USA Network and NBC Sports Digital, which began at 1:30 a.m. ET each morning), averaged more than 1 million viewers, up 18% from Royal Troon a year ago. 

These numbers reached close to the levels of the early rounds of the PGA Championship; the second round, which was broadcast on ESPN during standard daytime windows, averaged 1.3 million viewers in May. The PGA was Scheffler’s other major victory in 2025.

McIlroy’s Masters victory in April remains the highest-rated major of the year. It averaged 12.71 million viewers for the final round as fans tuned in to see him win his career grand slam.