The final day of the 2026 Presidents Cup drew the event's largest television audience in nearly a decade.
An average of 2 million viewers tuned in to NBC's broadcast of Sunday's singles matches at Medinah Country Club near Chicago, according to Josh Carpenter with Sports Business Journal. The Americans won nine of 12 matches on the final day to erase a three-point deficit and claim the cup by a total tally of 17-13, marking the 11th consecutive Presidents Cup victory for the U.S.
It's the most-watched final day of the Presidents Cup since 2017, when the event was played at Liberty National in New Jersey. But Sunday wasn't the only day that saw a significant uptick in viewership.
Carpenter reported that Golf Channel's more than 12 hours of live
coverage averaged 743,000 viewers, a 32-percent increase from the 2024 Presidents Cup, which included a 58-percent jump on Thursday, making it the most-watched Day 1 of the Presidents Cup since 2017. Golf Channel's lead-in coverage on Saturday morning saw an 85-percent increase in average audience compared to 2024 and was the most-watched lead-in since 2013.
Even though the final day notched its best ratings in nine years, the event still suffered from the fact that it went head-to-head with a full slate of NFL games on Sunday, but that's to be expected.
For reference, when ranked against the rest of the PGA Tour's regular season events in 2026, the Presidents Cup clocked the fourth-lowest average Sunday viewership. In the same vein, the final day of the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black drew 3.22 million viewers ― 38 percent more than Sunday's Presidents Cup action.
Nick Stavas is a digital producer and commerce writer for Golfweek. Follow him on X/Twitter (@nickstavas).
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: 2026 Presidents Cup draws highest final-day viewership in nearly a decade
