May 20, 2026, 3:59 p.m. ET
Aaron Rai’s victory at the 108th PGA Championship on Sunday was a big hit with TV viewers. Both CBS Sports and ESPN announced impressive ratings for the second men’s major of the year.
CBS scored the highest-rated final round of the PGA in the last five years. It was watched by 5.764 million viewers, up 21 percent from last year, with a peak of more than 8 million viewers. During the final hour of coverage Sunday, the telecast averaged more than 7.8 million viewers as Rai grabbed the tournament by the throat with a 68-foot birdie putt at 17 at Aronimink Golf Club outside of Philadelphia.
Paramount+ also delivered its most-watched final round of the PGA with 56-percent growth in average minute audience compared to last year. All told, Golf on CBS is averaging 4.15 million viewers, its highest total since 2015, and up 14 percent year-over-year.
ESPN’s live coverage across all four days of the PGA Championship last week was the most-watched PGA Championship on the network since 2020, averaging 1.7 million total viewers, up 49 percent from 2025.
Each round of the PGA Championship on ESPN saw significant, double-digit growth from last year’s event, the network reported. The first round on Thursday averaged 1.5 million viewers, up 61 percent, while Friday’s second round coverage was up 40 percent year-over-year, with an average of 1.8 million viewers.
Need a news break? Check out the all new PLAY hub with puzzles, games and more!
Over the weekend, Saturday’s coverage was up 52 percent and Sunday was up 48 percent, averaging 1.6 million and 1.7 million, respectively.
ESPN presented more than 235 hours of live coverage throughout the PGA Championship, including live telecasts on ESPN and six live streams of Featured Groups and Featured Holes during the four days of competition, all available to ESPN subscribers on the ESPN App for mobile and connected TV devices.