Record crowds at American Century Championship at Lake Tahoe; 2.2M viewers catch final putt

LAKE TAHOE, Nev. - There were record crowds at Edgewood Tahoe last week for the 34th annual American Century Championship. For the event a total of 76,810 fans walked the course to watch the best and brightest stars compete, setting the event attendance record.

Those who watched from home were also in impressive numbers. The NBC Sports coverage of the final round on Sunday resulted in an average of 1.4 million viewers, with the event's most-watched final round since 2004 when 1.6 million viewers tuned in. The final four that year were winter Dan Quinn, followed by Rick Rhoden, Mark Rypien, and Billy Joe Tolliver.

Viewership peaked at more than 2.2 million viewers in the final full quarter hour (2:45 p.m. - 3 p.m.) as Steph Curry came from behind with an eagle on the final hole to defeat Mardy Fish.

Three-day coverage across NBC and GOLF Channel averaged 978,000 viewers, making this the most-watched American Century Championship since 2009.

Curry, who recorded his second-career hole-in-one on Saturday on the par-3 7th hole, finished the tournament with 75 points in the modified Stableford format. He is the fifth active athlete to win the American Century Championship and the first since then-Tennessee Titans placekicker Al Del Greco won in 2000. The first-place purse of $125,000 will be donated to various tournament charities as Curry retains his amateur status as a golfer.