Flat Ratings For The Players

Garry Smits on the Players ratings not jumping like other PGA Tour events this year.

The NBC overnight ratings for Sunday’s final round were flat compared to last year, with a 3.4 rating. NBC Sports spokesman Chris McCloskey said the final ratings might show an increase in overall viewership over K.J. Choi’s playoff victory over David Toms.

Saturday’s ratings were up 56 percent over 2011, but NBC lost most of the Saturday broadcast last year because of a rain delay of more than four hours.

The Golf Channel ratings were mixed. Thursday’s first round was up only five percent over 2011, but the overnight ratings for Friday, with Tiger Woods playing in the afternoon wave and making a late birdie run to make the cut, was a far different story: Ratings were up 86 percent over 2011, and viewership was the highest of any early round Golf Channel coverage since the network began carrying The Players.