Wyndham Clark outlasted a star-powered leaderboard Sunday to claim his first major championship at Los Angeles Country Club.
The 2023 U.S. Open received a lot of criticism on social media for the commercial load, substandard announcing and lack of atmosphere due to general admission policy.
However, the TV ratings were extremely good.
NBC Sports reports that its 2023 Open was up 27 percent compared to the championship at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts, averaging 6.2 million viewers across NBC and Peacock. That’s the highest since 2019 when the event was held at Pebble Beach.
The numbers were also up nine percent compared to 2021, the last time the U.S. Open was held on the West Coast (Torrey Pines, won by Jon Rahm).
NBC says across its platforms, the final round averaged 8.8 million viewers during prime time and peaked at 10.2 million from 9:30-9:45 p.m. ET.
For comparison, the PGA Championship received 4.5 million viewers last month at Oak Hill.
The Masters is still the most-watched men’s major in 2023. In fact, it’s the most-watched golf broadcast in the past five years on any network, CBS reported in April after averaging 12.058 million viewers for the final round.