Rory McIlroy elevated his game Sunday at the PGA Championship, but he couldn't do the same for CBS's TV ratings.

Running opposite the last day of the Olympics, Sunday's golf marathon drew a 3.9 overnight rating for Jim Nantz & Co., according to Sports Media Watch. That's down nine percent from last year, and 22 percent from 2010. In fact, this year's final round drew the lowest ratings since the PGA last ran against the Olympics in 2008 (when it drew a 3.0). According to the article, that year marked the tournament's lowest audience share since "at least" 1995. 

In addition to the Olympics, Tiger Woods's final-round fade didn't seem to help matters. The 2009 event, where Woods lost a Sunday duel to Y.E. Yang, drew a massive 7.5 rating -- nearly twice this year's crowd.

News isn't all bad for the PGA: It still drew more viewers than the final round of this year's British Open (which got 3.3). Granted, that broadcast takes place early Sunday morning in the U.S., so it doesn't benefit from the PGA's meaty Sunday afternoon time slot.

It’s only Monday, and we’re just getting our first taste of Mike Davis’s setup at Olympic, but it’s already fair to say it's a little spicy.  A video of the 17^th hole posted on Twitter by caddie Todd Montoya shows what a foot either way could mean in this championship.  Apparently, it could be the difference between an easy up-and-down and pitching back from the 18^th tee. 

Wowzers, indeed, Todd.  Looks like we may be seeing shades of Shinnecock if the track continues to dry out as the week wears on. But after the way Rory torched Congressional last year, did anyone think this thing would play easy?

Keeping Pace
So Olympic appears to be a fickle beast. That, combined  with the recent rash of high-profile incidents of slow play, has Doug Roberson of the Atlanta Journal Constitution concerned that we’ll be in for a glacial grind this week. 

“The more money they are playing for, the slower some players are going to be,” Golf Channel on-course reporter Billy Andrade said.

“There’s so much more on the line right now, it just brings on a more deliberate way of playing.”[Casey] Wittenberg, currently playing on the Nationwide Tour but who has also played on the PGA Tour, said that as long as the PGA Tour continues to make courses hard, fast and firm – like The Olympic Club will be this week – there will be more shots out of the rough so slow play will remain an issue.

“It’s just kind of part of the game,” Wittenberg said. “If people are maxing out their time but not going over, I really don’t know what the tour can do to change that." 

Nantz Ties the Knot 
Hello friends, and welcome to beautiful Pebble Beach Golf Links. We are gathered here today for the wedding of Jim Nantz, a tradition unlike any other…

At least that's how I imagine it happened when Nantz was married over the weekend on Pebble's picturesque seventh green. As CultureMap Houston reports, some of those friends are very good golfers, indeed:

Golf greats Arnold Palmer and Nick Faldo (Nantz's CBS golf partner) have been spotted at the hotel (according to Twitter accounts) and are expected to be at the wedding. Paul Marchand, head pro at Shadow Hawk Golf Club and Nantz's former college roommate, is also a guest.

Much of the golf world is already in California with the U.S. Open set to be played at San Francisco's Olympic Club next week.

Nantz, 53, proposed to Richards, 33, in 2010 while on vacation with his close friend, former President George H.W. Bush at the Bush family compound in Walker's Point, Maine. Nantz and Richards met while she worked in sports marketing for IMG, which also represents Nantz.

No word on whether Nantz interrupted the ceremony to plug "Two Broke Girls." He's a company man.

Tweet of the Day:

About to go see Alcatraz for the first time! #awesome

— Hunter Mahan (@HunterMahan) June 11, 2012

Listed in roughly chronological order...

1. "It's disgusting what he's just done there. You look at his work ethic, and he's a credit to the game and an inspiration to all of us who are trying to be professional golfers, but some parts of him are arrogant and petulant. Somebody has to come on the green and maybe putt over his spit — it doesn't get much lower than that.” --Sky Sports commentator Ewen Murray after Tiger Woods was shown spitting on the green at the Dubai Desert Classic. Woods was later fined by the European Tour and apologized for the incident.

2. "I'm glad he's out playing golf. I happen to be a golfer. I think presidents deserve down time. And believe me, he is in constant communication with what's going on." --Former Vice President Dan Quayle, on criticism of President Obama for playing golf

3. “Tiger was the dominant player. He won 14 majors. Think about it, 14 majors, in such a short period of time. Who is ever going to do that again? Who knows? That is pretty dominating. So for us, myself, Phil, Vijay, Davis, Fred Couples, guys like that to have played under a guy who was that good, we took a beating, not only from him, but from you guys, too. It's been a tough -- it was a tough 10, 12 years for us.” --Ernie Els at the WGC-Cadillac Championship

4. “As my social status in Japan is getting higher, I believe that is one of the responsibilities, to provide for those people who are in need." --Ryo Ishikawa, on his decision to donate all of his 2011 earnings to earthquake relief in Japan

5. "I’ve gone back and putted that putt a hundred times since. … [and] it’s never broken left again." --Jack Nicklaus at the 2011 Masters on his birdie putt on 17 at the 1986 Masters 

6. “I hate that word. It's just a terrible word. It's not something you want to be associated with -- worst thing you can be called in golf, apart from ‘cheat.’” --Rory McIlroy, on the c-word –- “choke” -- after his final-round meltdown at the 2011 Masters 

7. “I still can’t believe, with just 45 minutes left in that broadcast, how many people could have conceivably won it. It was so exhilarating because that’s what you want—to have the chance to keep people on the edges of their seats. I can’t tell you how many e-mails I got from people saying, ‘I couldn’t even go to the bathroom. I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t want to miss anything.’ ” --Jim Nantz, on Sunday at the 2011 Masters

8. "You could see it a couple of weeks ago at The Masters. Tiger was playing fantastic the first nine on Sunday but there wasn't really somebody who was scared of him any more.” --Martin Kaymer after the 2011 Masters

9. “How are we going to count all the shots? I can’t keep track.” --Kevin Na, on his way to a 16 at the Valero Texas Open

10. "Our hat policy is the same as Augusta’s. Turn your hat around.’” --Quail Hollow member to Rickie Fowler

11. "His swing is definitely better than mine was at the same age. But in '99 my swing came together, and I had a pretty good next two years." --Tiger Woods, on Rory McIlroy’s U.S. Open win

12. “I can't f***ing hit it. I'm f***ing useless.” --Darren Clarke, on the putting green the week before winning the British Open

13. "I've caddied for 33 years, won 145 times and this is the most satisfying win of my career." --Caddie Steve Williams after Adam Scott won the Bridgestone invitational

14. “I don’t have any.” --Phil Mickelson’s caddie Bones Mackay after being asked how many wins he has

15. "I would rather eat a golf ball than see this movie again." --Roger Ebert, on the golf movie Seven Days in Utopia

16. "I don't recall ever saying the Tiger era is over." --Luke Donald after The Daily Express published a story with the headline, "Luke Donald: The Tiger Woods Era is 'Over' "

17. "If it were going to be banned, it should have happened 20-plus years ago. But now that it's been legal, I don't think you can make it retroactive." --Phil Mickelson, on belly putters

18. "Almost every guy who finished at the top of the leaderboard was in the top five in greens hit and ball-striking. To me, that's the ultimate.That's pure golf, not a bunch of scrambling crap." --Johnny Miller’s defense of the Cog Hill redesign after criticism from Phil Mickelson and others

19. “I feel like even if I went to HSBC and won, they’d find another event to add.” --Luke Donald, on learning that the PGA Tour decided to include the HSBC Champions event in Shanghai in the Player of the Year vote after Donald won the money title

20. “No. I make sure I remain totally illiterate in that state." --Jack Nicklaus after being asked if he tweets

All photos from the Associated Press, except for Johnny Miller (Getty Images)

CBS Sports announcer Jim Nantz has yet to watch a replay of Masters Sunday, but when he does get around to it, he’s not sure what to expect.

“We might have a different winner,” Nantz joked in a phone interview Thursday. “We might have a different winner every time.”

Nantz was alluding to the riveting, highly volatile conclusion during which eight different players had at least a share of the lead on the back nine: Tiger Woods, Angel Cabrera, Geoff Ogilvy, Luke Donald, and on and on. Charl Schwartzel eventually prevailed, but not before birdieing the last four holes.

“I still can’t believe, with just 45 minutes left in that broadcast, how many people could have conceivably won it,” Nantz says. “It was so exhilarating because that’s what you want—to have the chance to keep people on the edges of their seats. I can’t tell you how many e-mails I got from people saying, ‘I couldn’t even go to the bathroom. I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t want to miss anything.’ ”

The thrill-a-second drama was great for fans, but it also meant that behind the scenes the CBS Sports production crew had its hands—and earpieces—full, madly scrambling to get every shot, putt and snap hook (sorry, Rory) onto the telecast as quickly and seamlessly as possible.

“At one point, we had six guys hitting or putting at the same time with a significant putt or shot that might allow them to take the lead,” said CBS’s Nick Faldo, who was commentating in the 18th hole tower next to Nantz. “It was just like, ‘Wow, where are we going next?’”

CBS couldn’t predict that with any more certainty than couch potatoes watching from home. “Obviously there were shots being played at the same time and you can’t be three places at once,” Nantz says. “That’s why you have tape and digital playback. But our guys had a rhythm and a confidence and a pacing to that show, from A to B to C, and on down the line.

“They didn’t miss a single shot,” Nantz adds. “There was no instance of, ‘How come I didn’t see the birdie putt by Schwartzel over at 15?’ ”

Faldo agrees that it was far less taxing in the tower than in the truck. “We’d rather there be chaos [on the course] as opposed to those days when the leaderboard doesn’t change,” he says. “That can be hard work.”

When the curtain finally dropped on the most spellbinding Masters in recent memory, Faldo, who won three green jackets of his own, says he actually felt a tinge of melancholy.

“As I drove out, I thought, ‘God, what a shame it’s all over. I’m really going to miss that.’”

This week marks Jim Nantz's 25-year anniversary on the air at CBS. The five-time National Sportscaster of the Year listed his 25 favorite moments on cbssports.com. A few of them, understandably, took place in Augusta.

Nantz's No. 1 moment was the 1992 Masters, in which Fred Couples, Nantz's close friend and former college roommate, won by two shots over Raymond Floyd. Here, Nantz awarded Freddy the green jacket.

No. 2 on Nantz's list was Jack Nicklaus's stunning win at Augusta in 1986. Here Nantz and Jack looked back at Nicklaus's birdie on the 16th hole in the final round.

Checking in at No. 6 is the 1997 Masters, where a 21-year-old Tiger Woods decimated the field by 12 strokes. Nantz's call of Tiger's final putt, "There it is, a win for the ages," remains one of the most famous in golf history.

For more on Nantz, read Alan Bastable's interview with the broadcaster, which appeared in the April 2010 issue of GOLF Magazine, and see Nantz's complete top 25 on cbsports.com.