体坛英语新闻：Record TV audience expected for Woods return

BEIJING, April 8 --A record number of viewers are expected to watch Tiger Woods tee off at the Masters this week. This is Woods' first tournament since revelations about his troubled private life surfaced late last year.

Media industry watchers say if Woods plays well, ESPN and CBS could exceed the biggest single day television audience ever for a golf tournament, with more than 20 million viewers. The event starts tommorrow and runs through Sunday.

The most watched Masters in at least 30 years was in 1997, when 20.3 million viewers tuned in to watch Woods win the tournament for the first time.

U.S. team member Tiger Woods watches play as he stands on the sixth hole during his foursome match at the Presidents Cup golf tournament at Harding Park golf course in San Francisco, California, in this October 8, 2009 file photo.

Second was 2001 when Woods won again. 19.2 million viewers watched that one.

Last year, ESPN averaged only 3.4 million viewers for the final two days of the tournament.