Ludvig Åberg’s dramatic win at the Genesis Invitational gave CBS another solid week on the West Coast.
Even though this year’s Genesis Invitational had to move south from Riviera to Torrey Pines, CBS delivered another solid performance, drawing 3.4 million viewers for its final round telecast.
Ludvig Åberg’s dramatic win is now the most-watched PGA Tour telecast since last year’s Players Championship in March, not including the four major championships. The Genesis Invitational also marks the third straight week of year-over-year gains for CBS.
Josh Carpenter of Sports Business Journal initially reported the news.
Coverage peaked between 5:45 and 6 p.m. ET, with 4.198 million viewers tuning in during that 15-minute interval. Minutes before then, tournament host Tiger Woods joined announcers Jim Nantz and Trevor Immelman in the CBS booth and talked about his late mother, the golf course, and the tour’s ongoing negotiations with the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF). Woods sounded optimistic about golf’s future, noting that a deal could be done this year.
Woods had intended to make his PGA Tour season debut at the Genesis Invitational but withdrew after his mother passed away on Feb. 4.
Despite Woods not playing, the 2025 Genesis Invitational saw a five-percent increase compared to last year, when Hideki Matsuyama fired a final round 62 to storm back and win at Riviera.
The Genesis Invitational wrapped up CBS’s West Coast Swing, which also included the Farmers Insurance Open, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, and the WM Phoenix Open. This year, 11.1 million people tuned in to these four events, a 17% increase from last year.
The network did not eclipse the 10-million threshold for the 2024 West Coast Swing, a harbinger of things to come for the tour’s tough year overall regarding television ratings.
The only event CBS has seen a year-over-year decline to date was the Farmers Insurance Open, also held at Torrey Pines. However, that event finished on a Saturday, catering to the NFL’s Conference Championships the following day. The Farmers Insurance Open field did not include many of the game’s top stars, either, as Harris English took home his fifth PGA Tour title.
CBS now takes a golf hiatus for March Madness and will return live from Augusta National for The Masters in April.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Follow him on X @jack_milko.
