Tiger’s First Appearance in 2007
The golf world is abuzz with excitement simply because this week is Tiger Woods’ first appearance of 2007. And it’s at one of Tiger’s favorite tracks: Torrey Pines in San Diego. Oddly enough, there are some people who don’t feel the same excitement as most, and that’s mainly the players that have to compete against him. Do you think Ernie Els and Phil Mickelson sometimes feel they were born too early or too late in life? Without Tiger around, I’d bet Els would have at least 4 more majors, and who’s to say how many Mickelson might have.
Some of the players were asked if Tiger has hurt or helped golf in general. I will admit that his presence and dominance has been a double-edged sword for players, tournament directors, and television executives. The astronomical purses on the Tour can be attributed soley to Tiger, which means all a player has to do is go for the low-hanging fruit and he’s living high on life.
For tournament directors, it’s much more black-and-white. If Tiger commits to your tournament, then you’re in for a windfall for the week your tournament runs. For those tournaments that don’t get Tiger, it’s a completely different ballgame and some in fact need Tiger’s appearance just to help them stay on the radar screen.
And television has the same problem, except that Tiger has to be in the hunt (or on the leaderboard) in order to attract the casual golf fan. And this Tiger phenomena goes on worldwide as well. However, Tiger gets “appearance fees” when playing abroad, but still having him in the field is a boon to the tournament directors.
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