Phil Mickelson smiles with the Wanamaker Trophy after his two stroke victory in the final round of the PGA Championship on The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island Golf Resort on May 23, 2021, in Kiawah Island, South Carolina.
Keyur Khamar | PGA TOUR | Getty Images
More than six million people watched Phil Mickelson win the 103rd PGA Championship on Sunday as he became the oldest player to win a major event. It was the most-watched round in three years for CBS Sports.
Mickelson, 50, won his sixth major championship and beat out two-time PGA Championship winner Brooks Koepka and Louis Oosthuizen – both golfers finished tied for second. ViacomCBS says the final round averaged 6.58 million viewers during its Sunday afternoon coverage. The round peaked at roughly 13 million viewers between 7:00 and 7:15 p.m. Eastern. ESPN aired most of the 2021 PGA Championship, including Sunday morning play.
By comparison, the final round of the 2020 event averaged 5.1 million viewers and peaked at 6.8 million viewers, according to Sports Media Watch, with ESPN’s coverage averaging 1.6 million. The report noted the final round of the 2019 PGA Championship also attracted approximately 5 million viewers, down from 8.4 million in 2018, when Tiger Woods finished second.
ESPN says it averaged roughly 1.17 million viewers during the first round on Thursday, an 18% increase over the first round in 2019. Due to the pandemic, the network didn’t compare it to the 2020 event, which was played last August.
It was Mickelson’s 45th PGA Tour win and he took home $2.1 million in earnings. Mickelson has made over $94 million in 644 events played, trailing only Woods, who has earned roughly $120 million in his career. Mickelson replaced legendary golfer Julius Boros as the oldest player to win a major in the sport.
The PGA Championship has aired on CBS since 1991 and moved to ESPN from Turner Sports last year as part of an 11-year media rights deal formed in 2018.
