How many people watched Rory McIlroy win The Masters on Sunday and how TV numbers compared to last year

Photo by Simon Bruty/Augusta National/Getty Images

The Masters once again captured the attention of the golfing world this year, with Rory McIlroy ultimately prevailing in an entertaining tournament.

McIlroy demonstrated his fantastic short game and indeed great mental strength to emerge victorious at Augusta by a single shot.

Two-time winner Scottie Scheffler fell just short of upsetting the defending champion, who has now also won The Masters twice.

McIlroy and Scheffler were among several players in contention on Sunday at Augusta, for which the TV numbers have now emerged.

Sunday at The Masters was the most-watched in 11 years

With an average of 13.995 million viewers on CBS Sports, the final round of The Masters was the most-watched in 11 years, as shared by the broadcaster on X.

The mammoth figure represents an eight per cent increase from the tournament in 2025, which averaged 12.990 million.

And Sunday’s action from Georgia peaked with 20.049 million viewers, which is the largest total at Augusta since 2013.

Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images

How could The Masters have attracted more viewers?

It’s a huge number for The Masters, but one can only imagine how many more viewers may have tuned in had the tournament looked slightly different come Sunday.

While it wasn’t as dramatic as last year, there can be few qualms about the top of the leaderboard, although a final pairing of McIlroy and Scheffler would have been even more blockbuster.

Instead the former played with Cameron Young as the latter played with Haotong Li, denying a standoff between the top two players in golf.

But making the event simply must-watch viewing would have been the presence of golfing legends and multiple champions Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.

Woods is currently taking a backseat from golf to focus on his health, while Mickelson was forced to withdraw because of a family matter.

Meanwhile, many of his fellow LIV Golf stars did very little to ensure an exciting battle with their PGA Tour rivals.

Jon Rahm made the cut but was never in contention, while its most high-profile star Bryson DeChambeau was nowhere to be seen on Masters Sunday after failing to make the weekend.

But there was still plenty of drama elsewhere, with his LIV Golf counterpart Sergio Garcia reprimanded by Masters officials for his early outburst, while Shane Lowry and Haotong Li plummeted the leaderboard with disastrous rounds of 80.

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