TV ratings rise for Masters, but not a record

Phil Mickelson's Masters win, with Tiger Woods lurking but never really in contention, drew much higher television ratings than last year but fell far short of the record set by Woods' first title at Augusta.

Sunday's final round on CBS earned a 12.0 overnight rating and 25 share, up 36 percent from last year's 8.8/21 for Angel Cabrera's win in a two-hole playoff. But it didn't come close to matching the 15.8/32 for Woods' first Masters victory in 1997.

It was still the third-highest overnight rating for a final round of any golf tournament since at least 1986, which is as far back as the records go. Woods' second Masters title in 2001, when he became the first player to hold all four professional majors at once, drew a 12.9/27.

In other golf news:

* Tom Watson received a special exemption to play in the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, where he won his only U.S. Open in 1982 with a memorable chip-in to beat Jack Nicklaus. The exemption was announced a day after the 60-year-old Watson turned in another impressive performance at a major, tying for 18th at the Masters. In his previous major, he lost in a playoff to Stewart Cink in the British Open at Turnberry. Watson will be the only player to have competed in every U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, dating to the first one in 1972.

* West Virginia sophomore forward Devin Ebanks is skipping his final 2 years of eligibility to enter the NBA draft. Ebanks was considered West Virginia's top defender and averaged 12 points and a team-leading 8.1 rebounds last season as the Mountaineers reached the Final Four. Also leaving school early are North Carolina sophomore forward Ed Davis and Syracuse junior forward Wes Johnson.

* Providence College players Johnnie Lacy and James Still have been charged with assault after what police and school officials say was an unprovoked attack on a fellow student.

* Rachel Alexandra ran 6 furlongs in her second major workout since returning to Churchill Downs.

* Longtime thoroughbred trainer Alan Seewald has died at his home in Middletown, N.J. He was 62. The cause of death was not known.

* The Wings-Orlando National Lacrosse League game, originally scheduled for Sunday, April 25 at the Wachovia Center, will be played on April 23 (7 p.m.) to accommodate a possible Game 6 in the Flyers-New Jersey Stanley Cup playoff series.

* Mike Bennett, star kicker-punter for La Salle High, the Class AAAA state football champion, has committed to Ursinus.

* St. Joseph's Prep wideout Colin Rogers has committed to play football at Dickinson.

* Union forward Sebastien Le Toux was selected as the Major League Soccer Player of the Week. Le Toux scored three times to lift the Union to a 3-2 home victory over D.C. United.

* Second-ranked Novak Djokovic, of Serbia, has split with American coach Todd Martin.