NBC Sports' final-round broadcast of the 2026 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale averaged 4.3 million viewers across NBC and Peacock.

The 4.3 million mark is a 6% jump from last year's final round, when Scottie Scheffler beat the field by three shots at Royal Portrush in front of 4.1 million viewers.

It's also the most-watched final round of the Open Championship since 2022, per SBJ's Josh Carpenter on X.

NBC Sports says the numbers are based on official Nielsen Big Data + Panel and digital data from Adobe Analytics, the same measurement standard the network has used across its 2026 major championship coverage.

NBC Sports also reported that viewership peaked at 6.1 million between 1:15 and 1:30 p.m. ET, right as Ryan Fox overtook clubhouse leader Cameron Young in the leaderboard to win his first major championship at the age of 37.

And it wasn't just Sunday that spiked. Saturday's third-round coverage on NBC and Peacock averaged 3.7 million viewers on the moving day. NBC Sports says it was the most-watched third round of the Open Championship since 2018 and a 16% increase from last year's 3.2 million.

Fox carded a record-tying 8-under-62 with five birdies on the front nine, two more down the stretch on Saturday. It was the third 62 of the week at Royal Birkdale, after Sam Burns and Lucas Herbert both shot the number on Friday.

2026 Golf Majors Final-Round Comparison: How the Open Stacks Up

Four majors, four different stories on the leaderboard — and four very different stories in the ratings. Here's where the Open's 4.3 million fits into the bigger picture of 2026.

The Masters still isn't close. Rory McIlroy's back-to-back Green Jacket win in April drew CBS's largest Masters audience in 11 years. It was watched by an average of nearly 14 million viewers, up 8% from last year's number who watched his 2025 playoff win.

The broadcast peaked above 20 million as McIlroy tapped in the winning putt, the biggest peak for the tournament since 2013.

The PGA Championship comes in second. Aaron Rai's breakthrough win at Aronimink in May pulled in 5.764 million viewers on CBS, up 21% from Scottie Scheffler's title win a year earlier.

That's the largest final-round PGA Championship audience in five years, since Phil Mickelson's win at Kiawah Island in 2021. And the coverage peaked at nearly 8 million during Rai's closing stretch.

The U.S. Open ranks third. Wyndham Clark's win at Shinnecock Hills in June averaged 5.5 million viewers on NBC. It was up from 5.4 million the year before, with a 9.3 million peak as Clark's lead shrank to one shot late in the round.

While the Open Championship showcased strong growth, it still trailed the other three golf majors in total American television audience size for its final round.

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Written by

Md Saife Fida