British Open 2023 viewership figures: Brian Harman's dominant victory draws just 3.35 million viewers despite a Sunday finish

Last weekend's Open Championship, where Brian Harman won his first major, drew staggeringly low viewership numbers on television. While a tournament's viewership can sometimes be impacted by a delayed finish, that was not the case at the British Open, which ended on Sunday.

🚨#RATINGS 📺 — NBC drew 3.352M viewers on Sunday for Brian Harman’s runaway victory. It’s the lowest watched final round at the Open since 2015 at St. Andrews when there was a Monday finish.

(Via @SportsTVRatings, h/t @JoshACarpenter)

NUCLR GOLF tweeted:

"NBC drew 3.352M viewers on Sunday for Brian Harman’s runaway victory. It’s the lowest watched final round at the Open since 2015 at St. Andrews when there was a Monday finish."

The 3.352 million viewers attracted by the British Open 2023 was the lowest watched final round of the tournament since 2015. The final round of the 2015 version of the event was pushed to a Monday.

There could be several factors behind the low viewership. The Open Championship is the last major of the year, so there's not as much steam behind it. It is also not as prestigious as the Masters or the US Open. The PGA Championship falls in the middle of those and thus attracts more viewers.

Furthermore, the time zone change might have caused problems for some viewers. The Open Championship finished at around 2 pm EST on Sunday. The Masters, for example, finished at around 7 pm EST on its final Sunday. Most of the action occurred before people tuned in.

Harman's substantial lead in the final rounds might have discouraged some potential viewers as well. The 36-year-old American was leading the tournament heading into the final day and secured a comfortable victory.

He was up by five strokes when Saturday's action closed and extended the lead by an additional stroke by the tournament's end.

Alan Shipnuck believes Brian Harman can win another major before Tiger Woods

Brian Harman may not be the household name that other major winners are, but he is a good player. He's also healthy and in good shape.

In conversation with Golf Digest, Alan Shipnuck threw cold water on the idea that Harman's win meant Woods could win another:

"Harman is a decade younger. And has not just gone through yet another embarrassing public scandal. And he can work out and practice as much as he wants. In conclusion, I’d say there are pretty substantial differences between the these two golfer. Tiger may still have some magic in his hands, and presumably his competitive instincts remain intact, but it’s hard to imagine his broken body will ever let him contend again."

While Harman's victory was surprising given his previous performances on the tour, Shipnuck stated that he was still physically able to perform at this best. Woods, who is still recovering from surgery, might never return to his previous levels.