The final round of golf’s 2026 Masters attracted strong viewership across the US, with an average of nearly 14 million viewers tuning in to national network CBS to see Rory McIlroy become the first golfer to win back-to-back titles since Tiger Woods in 2002.
Final-round coverage by CBS Sports, on Sunday (April 12), drew an average of 13.995 million viewers, becoming the most-watched Masters final round since 2015, when the network averaged 14 million viewers for American Jordan Spieth’s domestic win in 2015 at the iconic Augusta National Golf Club in the state of Georgia.
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The figure is an 8% increase on the average 12.71 million viewers who tuned in to CBS Sports last year to watch McIlroy seal his first Masters title (and complete the career grand slam in the process).
Viewership for this year's final round peaked at 20 million – the largest peak audience for the event since 2013 when Adam Scott took the crown. Last year’s edition, meanwhile, saw a peak of 19.5 million.
The broadcaster said the high viewership extended to streaming, with the Paramount+ service “recording its biggest golf day ever, reinforcing CBS Sports’ successful multi-platform approach to the Masters.”
CBS has held domestic broadcast rights for the Masters since 1956, the longest-running single-network broadcast partnership in sport.
Earlier in the week, Disney-owned ESPN average 3.1 million viewers for the first two rounds of the event, the international sports broadcaster’s best figure for its Thursday and Friday coverage since 2022.
Friday’s second round coverage averaged 3.5 million, up 14% from last year’s edition, while Thursday’s first round averaged 2.7 million – a 19% lift.
Continued viewership success cements the Masters as golf’s biggest annual draw, with the tournament notching far more than other majors.
News of the viewership uplift comes as CBS faces heavy criticism for major mistakes made during the final round, such as failing to capture the location of McIlroy’s final four shots, including a key shot through the woods that landed in a sand trap.
The network also stumbled during McIlroy’s final putt sequence when it chose a camera angle that blocked audiences from seeing the ball fall into the cup.
Audiences also took to social media to voice their frustration with the number of cutaways to fans at McIlroy’s home golf club in Holywood, Northern Ireland, instead of focusing on live action on the course.
ESPN coverage has also come under fire, meanwhile, for including American football star Jason Kelce in its Wednesday coverage of the Par 3 tournament, with fans questioning his expertise on the sport.
