The Masters Sees Drop In Viewership Without Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods has won just one Masters Tournament in the last 20 years, but his mark on the game remains. When he is participating, fans tune in to the event at a far higher rate than they do when he is absent, and it remained true during the first round in 2025.

Masters Ratings Down, Likely Due To Absence Of Tiger Woods

Woods is missing the Masters for the first time since 2021, and the early returns on the viewership numbers reflect his absence. Last year’s first round saw an average of 3.2 million viewers, many of whom apparently tuned in to see Tiger. Without his presence in this year’s field, that number dropped to 2.3 million, a loss of more than 28%.

The 2024 figure was the highest first round viewership for the event since 2015.

The Masters is the most-watched golf event of the year, but ratings have noticeably dipped with the career of Tiger Woods tailing off. Final round viewership in 2024 fell roughly 20%, down to 9.59 million viewers on the CBS flag station. It was the least-watched Masters final round since 1993, outside of the COVID-affected seasons in 2020 and 2021.

ESPN’s first-round Masters viewership dropped 28% without Tiger Woods.

The network averaged 2.3 million viewers on Thursday vs. 3.2 million last year with the five-time Green Jacket winner.

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There has been news surrounding Woods despite him not playing in the event this year. The 5-time winner of the event was absent from the yearly Champions Dinner that took place on Tuesday, and he cited the fact that he can’t put any weight on his left foot as the reason for his empty seat. Woods suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon last month, and there is no time frame for his return to action.

Woods has five Masters victories in his illustrious career. He won the event four times between 1997 and 2005, and once again after a long hiatus in 2019. His five total first-place finishes is the second-most ever, behind only Jack Nicklaus, who finished his career with six.

After not playing in 2021, Woods placed 47th in 2022, and withdrew due to injury the year after. In 2024, he made the cut, but combined to shoot a total of +15 in the final two rounds, finishing in 60th place.