Torrey Pines gave plenty of golfers headaches this weekend, but the west coast U.S. Open was a big boon for NBC ratings. Over its four days of play, the tournament became the most-watched U.S. Open in the past five years.
The final round which, saw Jon Rahm go birdie-birdie to seal the title, was watched by 5.7 million viewers on Sunday. That is a 76% increase from last year’s event. It also became the most-watched golf telecast since Tiger Woods won the 2018 Tour Championship.
Viewership peaked on Sunday around 8 p.m. ET with 9 million viewers, right as it became clear that Rahm was about to become the first Spanish U.S. Open champion. It was Rahm’s first victory as a father after he had to withdraw from The Memorial two weeks ago with a 6-shot lead because of a positive COVID test.
“It had to happen in a beautiful setting like this,” Rahm said on Sunday. “Three generations of Rahm’s on this green. One of them doesn’t know what’s going on.”
Nearly 40 hours of coverage from Thursday-Sunday brought more good news for NBC. The event averaged 3.1 million viewers across the four days, a 43% increase from 2020. Only the 2019 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach averaged more viewers over the past five years of the event. A tournament that Tiger Woods contended in for the entire weekend.
Obviously, west coast majors perform better in a vacuum because of the primetime trophy presentation, but maybe the Bryson Dechambeau-Brooks Koepka beef is actually carrying weight in the ratings. Both golfers were in contention on Sunday, with Dechambeau collapsing all the way down from first at one point to a 26th place finish.
There is one more major left on the golf calendar as the best golfers in the world prepare for The Open Championship next month.