Tiger Woods still draws sports TV viewers like no other golfer. Given the strong numbers CBS Sports and Golf Channel generated around his appearance in The Honda Classic, NBC Sports is praying Woods plays in March before the Masters.
Woods finished tied for 12th at The Honda Classic, but CBS was a winner. The network's Sunday final-round coverage averaged 4 million viewers, a 43 percent increase from NBC's coverage last year.
Woods has played in three tournaments, all shown by CBS, in early 2018: The Honda Classic, the Genesis Open and the Farmers Insurance Open. With Woods providing glimpses of the old free-swinging Tiger who dominated the PGA Tour, CBS's coverage averaged 3.3 million viewers and a 2.1 rating, up 14 percent and 11 percent, respectively, from last year.
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With the "Tiger Effect" kicking in, CBS pulled its highest viewership/TV ratings in five years.
Woods' comeback helped the Golf Channel, too. Its live Friday coverage averaged 829,000 viewers, making it the most-watched Honda early round in 15 years. The cable channel's lead-in coverage of Sunday's final round averaged 1.6 million viewers, making it the the fourth most-watched lead-in telecast by the NBC-owned network in 10 years.
"He may be the biggest name in sports, matched only by Michael Jordan and Muhammad Ali," former CBS Sports president Neal Pilson told Golf Digest after the Farmers Insurance Open. "Does he still move the needle? The answer is yes."
NBC Sports is taking over PGA Tour broadcast coverage beginning Thursday with the World Golf Championship-Mexico Championship. It and sister net Golf Channel will air five weeks of exclusive tournament coverage before CBS returns for the Masters on April 5.
The Peacock Network, which just finished airing the 2018 Winter Olympics from Pyeongchang, South Korea, can only hope Woods wants to play some tune-up tournaments before his dramatic return to Augusta National Golf Club, where he has captured four green jackets.
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Woods hasn't said whether he'll play between The Honda Classic and the Masters, but Golf Digest speculated he'll tee it up at the Arnold Palmer Invitational from March 15-18 at Bay Hill, where he has won eight times. Woods could also play in the Valspar Championship (March 8-11).
Asked after his closing round at The Honda Classic what's ahead for him before the year's first major tournament, the world's former No. 1 player said: "I think that I need to go back in the gym again and start training. The body feels good. I just need to keep it feeling good. I'll get back to the gym and keep it strong. I felt like I made a big leap this week. I really hit it well."