Women's Open TV rating best since 1997

Associated Press

NEW YORK — Birdie Kim's dramatic win at the U.S. Women's Open — and 15-year-old Michelle Wie's presence on the leaderboard — helped Sunday's final round get the highest overnight rating for the event since 1997.

NBC earned a 3.2 rating with a 7 share for the tournament that Kim won with a birdie from a bunker at the 18th hole, 68 percent higher than the 1.9 with a 5 share the network got for last year's tournament.

This year's Open had plenty of story lines to draw viewers, from the play of Honolulu's Wie — who shot an 11-over-par 82 in the final round after being tied for the lead heading into Sunday — to Annika Sorenstam's quest to win her third straight major of the season. Sorenstam finished nine shots behind Kim.

Teenage amateurs Morgan Pressel and Brittany Lang were impressive, tying for second at 5-over 289, two shots back of Kim.

Overnight ratings measure the 55 largest TV markets in the United States, covering nearly 70 percent of the country. Each overnight rating point represents about 735,000 TV homes.