Phil Mickelson’s Masters win gets good but not best ratings; Tiger Woods still top draw

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CBS had an average of 21.3 million viewers during its final 30 minutes of Masters coverage Sunday, up 29% from a year ago according to CBS and Nielsen Media Research. In comparison, the Olympic hockey gold medal game between the USA and Canada had 27.6 million viewers on NBC.

The tournament, won emotionally by Phil Mickelson, whose embrace of his cancer-stricken wife Amy was the signature moment of the Masters, had expected to have a ratings bump since it was the return of Tiger Woods to competitive golf for the first time since Woods dropped out of sight after a car accident last November led to a series of revelations about his marriage infidelities.

CBS’s Sunday coverage of the final round earned a household rating and share of 10.7/24, up 29% from a year ago. Nielsen Media Research estimates CBS Sports’ final-round coverage on Sunday, in which Mickelson won his third Green Jacket, was seen in all or part by 39.2 million viewers, up 11% from last year’s 35.2 million, which saw Angel Cabrera win in a two-hole playoff over Kenny Perry and Chad Campbell for the 2009 title. This year’s 39.2 million viewers was the largest number of viewers to watch all or part of CBS Sports’ final-round coverage of the Masters since 40.1 million watched Woods win his second Green Jacket in 2001.

-- Diane Pucin