Tiger Woods’ first appearance in the Greenbrier Classic’s championship round drew a record television audience to CBS’s live coverage of the final day of the tournament last Sunday.
According to Nielsen overnight television ratings published on entertainment website showbuzzdaily.com, the Greenbrier Classic final round was the third-most-watched sporting event of the weekend with a 2.5 overnight rating — about 2.91 million viewers. The Coke Zero 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Race at Daytona International Speedway pulled a 2.61 preliminary rating despite being delayed by rain until 11:15 p.m., and the United States’ Women’s World Cup victory over Japan dominated weekend television programming with a 13.12 overnight rating, making it the most-watched soccer game ever on a single U.S. network.
Overnight ratings are not final and only account for about 70 percent of U.S. households with a television using data collected from “people meters.”
The Greenbrier Classic’s 2.5 overnight rating for Sunday is nearly 33 percent higher than the 1.8 rating the Classic pulled during the championship round in 2014. Angel Cabrera shot a 6-under 64 to win the 2014 Greenbrier Classic; New Zealander David Lee emerged from a four-way sudden-death playoff to win the 2015 trophy.
The tournament’s previous overnight rating record was 2.1 for the 2012 championship round — the only other year Woods participated in the Classic. Woods missed the cut for the championship round in 2012.
Contact writer Marcus Constantino at 304-348-1796 or marcus.c@dailymailwv.com. Follow him at www.twitter.com/amtino.