Weekend ratings breakdown: The Masters, and then everybody else

The Weekend Ratings Breakdown is a weekly, Monday afternoon analysis of the ratings for sporting events on the four major networks (ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC). The numbers come from Sports Business Daily.

1 p.m. ET - Speed Golf World Championships (CBS): 0.6

1 p.m. ET - MLB: Regional Coverage (Atlanta vs. Washington, Tampa Bay vs. Boston, San Francisco vs. CHI Cubs) (Fox): 2.1

2 p.m. ET - Masters Playoffs (CBS): 1.3

3 p.m. ET - The Masters: Round Three (CBS): 6.3

4 p.m. ET - ESPN Sports Saturday (ABC): 0.4

8 p.m. ET - NASCAR: NRA 500 (Fox): 3.5

Analysis: Before we go anywhere, please note that NBC ratings for all events this weekend were unavailable at this time, so no NHL or poker or horse racing.

For the stuff we do have, obviously, the Masters were dominant, and up from 2012. Round three topped last year’s comparable round by 24 percent (5.1). The controversy over Tiger Woods’ drop, and a competitive tournament overall, made the numbers shoot up big time.

As for everything else, NASCAR on Fox was down a tick (3.6) from 2012. The network’s MLB coverage was well down nearly a third from comparable action in 2012 (2.7). Last year’s coverage featured Angels-Yankees and Cubs-Cardinals, rather than Nationals-Braves and Rays-Red Sox, so the less marketable matchups may have been a factor.

12 p.m. ET - AMA Supercross (CBS): 0.9

12:30 p.m. ET - NBA Countdown (ABC): 1.2

1 p.m. ET - NBA: Chicago vs. Miami (ABC): 2.5

1 p.m. ET - Jim Nantz Remembers Augusta (CBS): 1.2

2 p.m. ET - The Masters: Final Round (CBS): 10.2

Analysis: The Masters final round was up 26 percent from 2012’s Bubba Watson winner (8.1) which took place on an Easter Sunday. The number is still slightly lower than for Charl Schwartzel’s win in 2011 (10.4) and way down from Phil Mickelson’s 2010 victory (12.0). It’s impressive, considering the numbers are up from the last two years that the tourney has ended in a playoff (2012, and 2009’s 8.8).

Elsewhere, the NBA on ABC saw Heat-Bulls down 24 percent from last year’s comparable telecast, which was Heat-Knicks. It wasn’t ABC’s lowest-rated NBA telecast of the season (that’d be Knicks-Clippers with a 2.3) but it still struggled against the competition. Heat-Bulls ended the regular season for ABC.