The Masters was a roaring success for Rory McIlroy. The Northern Irish golfer finally laid his ‘choker’ tag to rest and came away with the coveted green jacket. After four days of grueling golf during which he was tested by multiple people on multiple occasions, McIlroy is now on cloud number nine. Not only was the Augusta National Golf Course lucky to the 5-time Major winner, but it also proved to be a massive win for the broadcasting partner – CBS.

CBS Sports reported that nearly 12.7 million people had tuned in to watch the final round of the 2025 Masters. This is a 33% increase from the year before and is the most watched Masters in the last six years. The 2024 Masters, which Scottie Scheffler won by four strokes, saw 9.6 million viewers. That in itself was an impressive number, as it was the most watched major of the year.

So, imagine how impressive this year’s numbers are. Viewership hit 19.5 million viewers at one point around 7-7:15 PM ET. The last event to exceed these numbers was the 2018 Masters, which saw Patrick Reed beating Rickie Fowler by one stroke. It is surprising that Patrick Reed’s victory is the second-highest viewership for the Masters Tournament. It even exceeded Tiger Woods‘s victory a year later in 2019. That victory drew 10.8 million viewers on average during the final day, with the high hitting 12.1 million viewers. However, the low viewership is also attributed to the change in broadcasting times due to weather, which was during a time whe not much viewership is available.

Coming to the 2024 MASTERS, the high numbers are a clear indicator of one thing. Fans want and love what the golf offers. That points to a desire for reunification of the two tours that have the best players in their ranks – the PGA Tour and LIV Golf, something that has been talked about endlessly for months, but with no end or potential deal in sight.

Fans call for reunification amid ratings boost at Masters

The two most popular players were in contention during the final day. Both Bryson DeChambeau and Rory McIlroy provided a small recreation of their past battles, most notably the 2024 US Open – and that immediately piqued the interest of the golfing fans. If you want to see more of this, then that means you will have to hope that LIV Golf and the PGA Tour can come up with some sort of way to bring the golfing world together.

One fan tweeted, “Bryson & Rory effect. Two most popular golfers in world.” Even the likes of Scottie Scheffler and Patrick Reed were heavily involved in the running. The four of them symbolise the high end of the competitive aspect of golf. Unreleneting, ruthless and possessing a winning metnality, the likes of Reed, Scheffler, McIlroy and DeChambeau are heavy-hitters that will push themselves and others en route to victory. And that’s what the people wnat. People want golf to be competitive, there needs to be tension and excitement. That holds true for all sports, including golf. “When you have Rory and Scottie in the mix with Bryson…… needles move.” Another netizen explained.

Even the 2018 Masters had fan-favourite Rory in the mix. McIlroy was second on the leaderboard at the end of day 3 before falling off the curve during the last day. His presence near the leaderboard could be one reason why the 2018 Masters had such high viewership. “Lest we forget. It was Rory who had a chance to push Reed in 2018 too, lot of tune-ins for him being in contention.” One fan stated.

“Hopefully, this helps the PGA and LIV work out a deal. People obviously want to see the best players compete against each other.” Another netizen opined. Talks of a possible deal had started in late 2023, but despite nearly one and a half years of deliberation and involvement of big names like the President of the United States, Donald Trump, there seems to be no end in sight. Maybe the numbers from this event could prove to be the boost that is necessary for the deal to be completed. Recently, at LIV Golf Miami, Trump had even expressed that he wishes to see both the tours merge and stated, “that’ll be good. I’m involved in that too.”

Woods’s absence at a high-viewership event also prompted one fan to tweet, “If Tiger played in this they would be attributing these ratings to him, which proves his presence is not required in this sport, neither was it required to have an awesome nail biting final round Masters, without the drama of watching horrible shots and post tournament excuses.” Take the recently concluded TGL for example. The match with the highest viewership was the second match of the tech-based league with viewership exceeding 1 million. What was so special about the second match? It was Tiger Woods’s debut for his team, the Jupiter Links Golf Club. The amount of influence the Big Cat holds in the world of golf is undeniable and despite his absence, the Masters managed to register high viewership.

Is the high viewership because of the very tight contest that unfolded? Or is it because the best golfers took the stage at the Augusta National Golf Course? What do you think?