The ratings are in and the Masters had slightly fewer viewers than last year.  From Golfweek:

This year's final round fell on Easter Sunday, when fewer people were watching TV. CBS said Monday its coverage drew a fast national rating of 8.3 and a 20 share. It earned an 8.6/18 in 2008.

A number of people wrote pieces wondering if the slew of patrons that left Augusta National when Woods/Mickelson finished would translate the same on TV.  It didn't.

The rating peaked during the playoff at a 10.0/21. When Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson were finishing their rounds, it was a 9.4/23. Each started the final round seven shots back but made a run at the leaders.

Overall, around 42 million people saw some weekend coverage of the tournament.

Given that the tournament culminated on Easter Sunday, the slip in the rating is not surprising.  In fact, this is a victory for the Masters which fell to the whims of the lunar calendar model of the Christian faith (of which I am a member, so no e-mails).

For its part, ESPN did great over the first two days of the event.  Sports Media Watch details the numbers:

Coverage of the first two rounds of The Masters averaged a 2.4 U.S. rating (2.8 cable) and 3.4 million viewers on ESPN last Thursday and Friday, up 9% in ratings and 16% in viewership from a 2.2 U.S. rating (2.6 cable) and 3.0 million last year.

The 2.4 U.S. rating is the highest average for the first two rounds of The Masters since at least 2000. The 2.8 cable rating is the best since '01.

Strong numbers for the worldwide leader.  The return of Tiger likely had a serious impact, as well as the ESPN promotional machine.

But, what was most interesting to me was the data on the streams of Masters Live.  ESPN360.com had the stream and it killed over last year.

Live streaming coverage of round one of the 2009 Masters Tournament on ESPN360.com more than tripled — a 208% increase in total hours viewed (compared to the same day last year).  There was also a 28% increase in total streams, and an average time spent streaming of nearly an hour (57 minutes), up more than double at 138% over last year.

I could not find numbers from Augusta National and the masters.com numbers, but I would presume they are pretty healthy as well.

It was these numbers and a post by Geoff Shackelford on the quality of CBS and ESPN coverage that made me wonder if the future of golf on TV is online.

I've thought about the topic quite a bit in the past.  I wrote a column late last year that suggested that the future of golf was on cable television and the Internet - not on network TV.

So as not to repeat myself, I'm copying my initial thoughts on the subject of taking as much golf as possible to the Internet for streaming.

A Golf Channel Web property would allow for more on-demand streaming of game improvement content, pro golf analysis, and even live broadcasts of events that may be forced into tape delay telecast on the network, such as the European Tour and the LPGA Tour.  Given the difficult economy, the property could create advertising opportunities that may not be available to TGC due to the cost of ad buys.  In effect, a Web broadcast platform could bring golf into the modern age and sure up revenue for years to come.

In the end, the fan would win, too.  With more and better availability to pro golf and content to improve their own games, golf could become more accessible.  The game could become more viral in nature and may even add to participation since people would have more consistent access to lessons and techniques.  During a time in which the golf industry is looking to grow the game, there may be no better solution than to take the game exclusively to networks that can specialize in providing the attention it deserves.

Basically, golf fans could decide when they want to access golf coverage and, using the Masters Live model, to the specificity of which camera and announcers that they want to view during any one moment.  It is powerful stuff and it seems like people are really interested in it.  Remember when the stream of the US Open playoff at Torrey Pines nearly broke the Internet?

The Masters is certainly the leader in this technology, though the US Open is a close second.  The PGA Tour is making headway in this regard, though they lag behind.

Last December, I spoke with Gil Kerr, Senior Vice President, Broadcasting, Programming & Productions for the PGA Tour to talk about the future of golf on TV and the Internet.

Kerr was certainly not ready to extricate the PGA Tour from network TV.

"[W]e maintained our long standing relationships with CBS and NBC for most of our weekend telecasts. We see real value in this and don't see a change in the foreseeable future," Kerr explained.  "We think of it as having the best of both worlds."

The challenge for taking more PGA Tour coverage online really lies in current contracts.  Golf Channel does no streaming of PGA Tour events online.  The PGA Tour only does selected holes at selected events.  Kerr mentioned that Golf Channel feels it could be hurt by taking the telecasts online:

"There certainly would be an audience for it on Thursday and Friday when many people are at work," Kerr said.  "But Golf Channel believes it could have a negative impact on the primetime replay which is important to both of us."

Given what we're seeing from the Masters, I am inclined to disagree.  Golf Channel is a growing Web site and is attracting top notch writing talent.  They have a solid video collection as well.  Imagine having the PGA Tour (or LPGA Tour, or European Tour) streaming live on the Internet on Thursday-Friday.  The traffic to their site would go through the roof.

The moral of the story is that the Masters is leading golf in a direction that will be good for the sport.  The model has worked well for Major League Baseball and the NBA.  The NFL is continually expanding its experimentation, particularly with its Sunday Night Football telecasts.  Golf can do the same and be richer for it.