Nantz: "I’ve never had anybody say, ‘Tell me about the ratings when Jack Nicklaus won in 1986.'"

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Judging by the traffic coming in, more people than ever will be on the grounds for this week's practice rounds. The typical Masters buzz is in the air, patrons are posing for photos in front of the main scoreboard, and the Masters is the Masters. Tiger's absence doesn't seem to be a big part of the week, yet. 

But inevitably the million or more extra viewers he brings will be noted in the final ratings, but as Ed Sherman reports, Jim Nantz had a good comeback for that.

“I don’t think the golf fan cares about the ratings,” Nantz said. “I’ve never had anybody say, ‘Tell me about the ratings when Jack Nicklaus won in 1986.’ I never had anyone say, ‘Phil’s victory was great in 2004, but too bad about the rating.’ It was on Easter Sunday that year (which generally means a smaller rating).

“Yeah, we’re going to miss Tiger, but this tournament never has been about one player. It’s going to be thrilling, and I can’t wait to see what the next script is to be written.”

That said, here were the numbers last year. Not that they mean a thing about what a spectacular finish we saw.

An estimated 44.3 million viewers watched all-or-part of last year’s third and-final round Masters coverage on CBS, +13% from last year’s 39.3 million. Last year was the second highest number of viewers to watch all-or-part of CBS’s weekend Masters coverage in 12 years, behind only 46.5 million in 2010.   Australia’s Adam Scott won the coveted Green Jacket and his first career major with a birdie on the second playoff hole to beat Argentina’s Angel Cabrera.
 An estimated 37.4 million viewers saw all-or-part of CBS’s final round coverage in 2013, +13% higher than the prior year.  Last year’s 37.4 million viewers was the second-largest number of viewers to watch all-or-part of CBS’s final-round coverage since 2001 (40.1 million; Tiger Woods).  Last year trailed only Phil Mickelson’s third Masters win in 2010 (39.2 million).