ESPN’s live telecast of the first round of the Masters Tournament on Thursday averaged 3.2 million viewers, the highest for the first round since 2015. It represented a jump of 28% in viewership over last year’s first round.

The telecast aired from 3-8:06 p.m. ET and the audience peaked at 3.8 million in the 6:15 p.m. quarter hour.

Last year’s first round of the Masters Tournament averaged 2.5 million viewers on ESPN. 

The Welcome to the Masters lead-in program averaged 594,000 viewers from 1-3 p.m. on ESPN.

For the two weekend days of the Masters, live streaming coverage of Featured Groups and Featured Holes (Holes 4, 5 and 6, Amen Corner, and Holes 15 and 16) continues on ESPN+ all day, each day of the Tournament.