With the news that Tiger Woods has missed the cut at the British Open, ABC's ratings for the weekend telecasts will likely be just a shadow of what they'd have been were he in contention.Here is a table of historical British Open ratings. Sadly, I don't have the data from 2008.
| Number of | Household | Number | Number | |||
| Year | Telecasts | Rating | Share | of Homes | of Persons | Winner |
| 2007** | 2 | 3.1 | 10 | 3,474,000 | 4,220,000 | Padraig Harrington |
| 2006** | 2 | 3.9 | 12 | 4,339,000 | 5,333,000 | Tiger Woods |
| 2005 | 2 | 4.2 | 13 | 4,620,000 | 5,468,000 | Tiger Woods |
| 2004 | 2 | 3.6 | 12 | 3,888,000 | 4,907,000 | Todd Hamilton |
| 2003 | 2 | 3.9 | 13 | 4,152,000 | 4,941,000 | Ben Curtis |
| 2002 | 2 | 4.2 | 14 | 4,473,000 | 5,754,000 | Ernie Els |
| 2001 | 2 | 4.1 | 15 | 4,216,000 | 5,446,000 | David Duval |
| 2000 | 2 | 5.9 | 19 | 5,617,000 | 7,312,000 | Tiger Woods |
| 1999 | 1 | 4.8 | 14 | 4,775,000 | 6,003,000 | Paul Lawrie |
| 1998 | 2 | 4.3 | 15 | 4,187,000 | 5,221,000 | Mark O'Meara |
| 1997 | 2 | 4.1 | 15 | 3,958,000 | 5,289,000 | Justin Leonard |
| 1996 | 2 | 2.9 | 10 | 2,782,000 | 3,675,000 | Tom Lehman |
| 1995 | 2 | 4.1 | 14 | 3,914,000 | 4,953,000 | John Daly |
| 1994 | 2 | 3.4 | 13 | 3,203,000 | 4,027,000 | Nick Price |
| 1993 | 2 | 3.8 | 14 | 3,538,000 | 4,342,000 | Greg Norman |
| 1992 | 2 | 2.9 | 11 | 2,671,000 | 3,575,000 | Nick Faldo |
| 1991 | 2 | 2.8 | 12 | 2,610,000 | 3,460,860 | Ian Baker-Finch |
| 1990 | 2 | 3.6 | 14 | 3,360,000 | 4,425,120 | Nick Faldo |
| 1989 | 2 | 4.2 | 16 | 3,770,000 | 5,017,870 | Mark Calcavecchia* |
| 1988 | 3 | 2.9 | 10 | 2,580,000 | 3,557,820 | Seve Ballesteros |
| 1987 | 2 | 3.9 | 14 | 3,400,000 | 4,324,800 | Nick Faldo |
| 1986 | 2 | 3.8 | 14 | 3,300,000 | 5,306,400 | Greg Norman |
| 1985 | 2 | 3.7 | 13 | 3,150,000 | 4,135,950 | Sandy Lyle |
| 1984 | 2 | 4.1 | 16 | 3,410,000 | 4,535,300 | Seve Ballesteros |
| 1983 | 2 | 5.0 | 19 | 4,150,000 | 5,407,450 | Tom Watson |
| 1982 | 2 | 5.7 | 22 | 4,630,000 | 6,917,220 | Tom Watson |
| 1981 | 2 | 4.7 | 21 | 3,640,000 | 4,513,600 | Bill Rogers |
| 1980 | 2 | 4.7 | 22 | 3,560,000 | 4,690,000 | Tom Watson |
| 1979 | 1 | 4.6 | 15 | 3,430,000 | 3,748,990 | Seve Ballesteros |
| 1978 | 1 | 5.0 | 16 | 3,650,000 | 5,248,700 | Jack Nicklaus |
| 1977 | 1 | 5.2 | 18 | 3,700,000 | 4,410,000 | Tom Watson |
| 1976 | 1 | 4.8 | 17 | 3,340,000 | 5,110,200 | Johnny Miller |
| 1975 | 1 | 5.0 | 18 | 3,430,000 | 5,230,750 | Tom Watson* |
| 1974 | 1 | 4.3 | 15 | 2,850,000 | 3,120,750 | Gary Player |
| 1973 | 1 | 5.9 | 19 | 3,820,000 | 5,844,600 | Tom Weiskopf |
| 1972 | 1 | 7.3 | 25 | 4,530,000 | 8,244,600 | Lee Trevino |
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Note: NA - Not Available; * = Playoff
Source: Nielsen Television Index Sports Decks and opengolf.com
Copyright 2007 Nielsen Media Research
** Note: Live + Same Day Viewing
Go Tom Watson!
i dunno, i think the ratings will do alright without tiger, the old guy tom watson is a good story and i think people will tune in to watch him
The Watson factor will help a bit. It’ll be interesting to see how much.
I think last year got a 3.3 from what i can tell at sportsmedia.com
First, last year’s (2008) Tiger-less numbers (Live +SD):
Saturday: 3.387M P2+ 2.4HH Rating
Sunday: 4.64M P2+ 3.3 HH Rating
Unfortunately, The Open is a bit of a ratings debacle no matter what happens due to the time zone issues. And even Tiger 2005 & 2006 was a shadow of Tiger 2000. Also the numbers above are a bit apples to oranges because for many years ABC aired its weekend coverage of The Open on a tape delayed basis.
It will be interesting to see if the rejuvenated Watson did anything for Saturday’s round, but if he’s still leading or within a stroke or two on the back nine on Sunday, I can’t imagine it won’t be considered “must see TV” for any golf fans over the age of 45 or so.
So what is the word on the ratings for 2009?
doug, I have seen nothing from ABC yet. I am interested to see what happened too.