While Thursday’s opening round of the 2025 Masters drew big viewership totals, the numbers were down compared to 2024. Much of the difference can likely be attributed to the absence of Tiger Woods.
Michael McCarthy of Front Office Sports detailed the differences.
“Without Woods in the field, ESPN’s coverage averaged 2.3 million viewers (including out-of-home viewers) Thursday,” McCarthy wrote. “That’s a 28% drop from the 3.2 million viewers for last year’s first round when Woods was in action. Just the presence of the five-time Green Jacket winner in 2024 produced the highest first-round viewership since 2015.”
McCarthy also noted a similar change between 2022 and 2023.
“Thursday’s first-round viewership mirrored the Tiger Woods Effect on TV ratings from 2022 to 2023,” he said. “When Woods teed it up in the afternoon in 2022, the first round drew 2.8 million viewers. But when the 15-time major tournament winner began his first round in the morning in 2023, outside of the ESPN coverage window, the first-round audience dropped 11% to 2.5 million.”
Woods is certainly nowhere near his prime. His last win came in October 2019 at the Zozo Championship, an event sanctioned by both the PGA Tour and Japan Tour. That said, he’s still the biggest needle mover in the sport, something even his sharpest critics can’t deny.
Despite the drop from last year, McCarthy also noted that “ESPN’s live coverage Thursday was the most-watched sports program for the day across all broadcast and cable TV networks.”
And while Woods is not in the field, some of the biggest names in the sport — including Justin Rose, Bryson DeChambeau, Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler — are firmly in contention heading into the final two rounds.