Rory McIlroy’s sixth career major title — his second consecutive win at the Masters — earned a major ratings boost for CBS in the final round on Sunday afternoon.
The fourth round averaged nearly 14 million viewers — 13,995,000, more precisely — the most to watch CBS for the final day from Augusta National since the network averaged 14 million in 2015 when Jordan Spieth captured his first major, Front Office Sports reported.
Sunday’s final round was an 8% increase from April 2025 (12.71 million), when McIlroy completed a career grand slam. The Northern Irishman’s dramatic, emotional finish last year came in a playoff against England’s Justin Rose.
The 2026 edition also came with tension, as McIlroy shared the top of the leaderboard after the first round, surged to a record six-shot lead after 36 holes but saw that erased as he and Cameron Young were tied for the lead after three rounds.
Viewership numbers reflected that, as the third round averaged 8.1 million on CBS, a 14% increase from 7.6 million in 2025 and the largest number since Tiger Woods played the third round en route to his 2019 victory.
As McIlroy lost and regained his lead on Sunday, world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler charged from four strokes behind and finished one shot back of McIlroy, who joined Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Woods as the only consecutive champions in Masters history.
The ratings followed on Sunday, peaking at slightly more than 20 million viewers — the largest at the Masters since 2013, when Adam Scott earned the green jacket and Woods tied for fourth. The peak viewership in 2025 was 19.54 million.
The 2026 Masters was the first since Nielsen began compiling ratings figures exclusively through its Big Data+ Panel methodology. The expanded system, designed for a more holistic and accurate view of audience behaviors, generally results in higher overall ratings for live sports broadcasts compared to the old method, according to Front Office Sports.
