Rory McIlroy's Masters Win Drove Massive Sunday Ratings for CBS

Golf fans were understandably excited to watch McIlroy win his career grand slam.

Rory McIlroy waves to the crowd after winning the 2025 Masters. / Michael Madrid-Imagn Images

Golf fans were very excited to watch the Masters on Sunday, even more so this year as Rory McIlroy captured his long-awaited Masters title to complete his career grand slam.

Sunday's final round ended up being the most watched golf round on any network in the past seven years with an average of 12.7 million viewers. CBS peaked at 19.5 million from 7–7:15 p.m. ET, which is around the time McIlroy captured the win in a playoff hole vs. Justin Rose.

The Masters was also the largest streamed golf event on Paramount+ ever, and Sunday's round was the biggest non-NFL sports day on the streaming service.

CBS says final round of @TheMasters drew 12.7M viewers, up 33% from 2024 and the most-watched since 2018 (Reed).

The number peaked at an insane 19.5M between 7-7:15.

If you go back 25 years, this would rank 14th overall, but among the strongest without Tiger. pic.twitter.com/ooJoxjeJRn

— Josh Carpenter (@JoshACarpenter) April 14, 2025

The rating is made more impressive given the absence of Tiger Woods, who has been the sport's biggest draw for 25+ years. It's worth noting that Woods won his fifth Masters title in 2019, meaning McIlroy's performance on Sunday beat the viewership number from that dramatic moment at Augusta National.

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