Rory McIlroy's win, which saw him replace Luke Donald as the World's highest ranked golfer, and a Tiger Woods final-round charge with a career best closing 62, helped NBC draw a 3.2 rating. Callaway Diablo Octane Driver


That's up 78%, not only from last year's comparable coverage, but also up 78% from comparable coverage in each of the last three years.

The ratings peaked at 4.3 between 5:30pm and 5:45pm local time.

In so far as golf broadcasters are concerned, Sunday's round took a major step towards a best-case TV golf scenario:

The continuing emergence of young stars such as McIlroy at a time when the embattled Woods, golf's all-time greatest ratings grabber, seems to be set to make a comeback after two years without a
, could give the PGA Tour's TV coverage a major boost.

And this despite the fact that Woods is still lacking the unerring consistency that made him such a dominant force in the first decade of the current Century

ABC's NBA doubleheader ratings are more proof that the league is looking into finding clear-cut paths to increased national TV ratings - strong teams in big markets that are draw TV audiences.

ABC's early game, New York verses Boston, drew a 4.3 rating that was up 19% on the comparable coverage of a Chicago-Miami game in the same time slot last year.