"GOLF CHANNEL SETS VIEWERSHIP RECORD FOR WGC-CADILLAC CHAMPIONSHIP"

Technically it was the first ever WGC Cadillac Championship, but alright, have your fun...

Golf Channel’s 1st Round Coverage on Thursday is Best in 23-Year TV History of Doral Event

Two-Day Average Viewership on Golf Channel Best in Nearly a Decade

“Golf Channel on NBC” Final Round Viewership Up 16%

I say that last one is caused by the massive Golf Channel audience tuning in network coverage they never would have watched before cross-prioritization!

NEW YORK – March 15, 2011 – NBC Sports Group set viewership records for its coverage of the WGC-Cadillac Championship, with Thursday’s coverage on Golf Channel the most-watched first-round in the history of the Doral event and the two-day (Thursday-Friday) average viewership the best since 2002. Additionally, the final-round viewership on Sunday for “Golf Channel on NBC” rose 16 percent from last year, according to official national data released by The Nielsen Company.
 
Golf Channel drew 1.14 million viewers for Thursday’ first round, the most in Doral’s 23-year television history (2007-2011 on Golf Channel, 1989-2006 on USA).  This also marked a 115-percent jump from last year’s first round and an increase of 25 percent over 2009.

Thank you Phil and Tiger pairing!

 Golf Channel averaged 1.07 million viewers for Thursday and Friday combined marking the best two-day viewership average for the Doral event since 2002 on USA (1.09 million).
 
36 FOR 36: The WGC-Cadillac Championship continued Golf Channel’s streak of delivering higher ratings for every PGA TOUR round this year (36 for 36) versus comparable rounds in 2010.

It must be the all the promos they run on Hoop Dreams or Pipe Dreams or Dreaming Of A Pipe or whatever it's called.

“GOLF CHANNEL ON NBC” VIEWERSHIP:  The final-round coverage on NBC (3:09-7 p.m. Sunday), which has been rebranded as “Golf Channel on NBC,” averaged 3.32 million viewers, a gain of 14 percent from last year’s 2.86 million viewers.  

“Working with the USGA can be a challenge – some of their ideas don’t exactly dovetail with ours, particularly from a financial standpoint"

Accepting the 2011 Mustang Scholars Foundation Man of the Year award, Merion president Rick Ill, talked about working with the USGA on the 2013 U.S. Open.

“Working with the USGA can be a challenge – some of their ideas don’t exactly dovetail with ours, particularly from a financial standpoint, because we have to careful how much it costs us [at Merion],” said Ill. “They have certain financial desires, and so do we. But I think the membership of Merion is very supportive of having USGA events here.

I thought the USGA was going to accept that 2013 would be a loser financially, but I guess they are trying to minimize the damage? Sounds fun!

Separation Anxiety Setting In As TWoods Plays First TCup Not As Member Of IWorth Team

Beth Kassab in the Orlando Sentinel as Tiger played for "Albany" instead of Isleworth this year in the Excess Classic.

"We held him in really high regard," said Vic Miesel, who specializes in luxury home sales in the Windermere area at Maingate Real Estate. "The luster of his fame has definitely worn off on a lot of people."

Woods didn't say just how quickly he'll leave the luxury lakefront subdivision just outside of Windermere, but the soon-to-be distance will be underscored today when Woods will play for an "away" team on what has long been his home turf.

Woods will represent Albany, a lavish golf and yacht club set to open later this year in the Bahamas, at the Tavistock Cup, which kicks off today at Isleworth. The Tavistock Group's latest development, in which Woods is an investor, is a new addition to the annual golf exhibition.

Fortune CEO Bullish On Acushnet Takeover

Martinne Geller and Dhanya Skariachan of Reuters talk to Fortune Brands CEO Bruce Carbonari, who calls the firesale of the Acushnet/Titleist wing of his company "a robust process." He cites four groups of potential buyers.

"There are really four groups of people that we believe will be part of the process -- we think it will be a robust process," Fortune Brands Chief Executive Officer Bruce Carbonari said on Monday at the Reuters Food and Agriculture Summit in Chicago.

He expects interest from multinational companies, which could include rivals such as Nike Inc (NKE.N) or Adidas (ADSGn.DE), private equity firms, Asian or Middle Eastern sovereign investors and high net-worth individuals.

"This is a very unusual asset. There's people out there who have a real passion for the game," Carbonari said. He declined to say whether the company had received actual bids from these players.

You have to assume though that a "high net-worth individual" has submitted a bid since round 1 ended Friday. Who could it be?

Augusta Change Tracker Appears Online

Thanks to reader Jordan for noticing the appearance of Golf Digest's Augusta National Change Tracker, which debuted on the iPad and is now viewable online.

Jordan notes: "The trees look like a disease that is slowly taking over the place."