More than 2 Million Watch ESPN's PGA Championship Second Round Coverage

Second Round Earns Largest Audience Since 2009

First Hour of Joe Buck/Michael Collins Alternate Telecast Attracts 691,000 Viewers, Up from Debut

With Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth and eventual tournament runner-up Will Zalatoris among the golf stars in action on the course, more than two million viewers watched ESPN's live coverage of the second round of the PGA Championship on Friday, May 20, from Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla.

The second round telecast, which aired from 2- 8 p.m. ET, averaged 2.1 million viewers, peaking at 2.6 million at 7:15 p.m. The average viewership was up 47 percent from the second round of last year's tournament from Kiawah Island, S.C., which averaged 1.4 million viewers. It marked the largest second-round audience for the PGA Championship since 2.4 million watched on TNT in 2009.

The audience increased from the first round on Thursday, May 19, which averaged 1.5 million viewers, the largest first-round viewership for the tournament in 20 years.

Viewership increased for the second day of the new alternate telecast hosted by Joe Buck and Michael Collins as it averaged 691,000 viewers for the 1-2 p.m. hour on ESPN, up from the 684,000 average for its debut during the first round on Thursday, May 19. The alternate telecast averaged 105,000 viewers between 2-5 p.m. on ESPN2, up from the average of 96,000 on Thursday.

Since ESPN's return to live coverage of the PGA Championship in 2020 after a 30-year absence, ESPN and ESPN+ have offered full day, first tee to last putt coverage of the first two rounds along with weekend morning viewing and more live play and viewing options for the historic tournament than it had ever had.

-30-