Tiger Woods’ “Indefinite” Leave: What It Really Means for Golf

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: January 6, 2010

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Tiger Woods typically begins his season on Jan. 28 at the San Diego Open (formerly known as the Buick Invitational before Buick clunked out last year).

So, it’s no surprise that despite the 2010 PGA Tour season kicking off this week in Kapalua, Hawaii, national television networks won’t even begin covering the PGA Tour until the San Diego Open in late January.

What does this tell us?

Well, despite all the optimistic attempts to convince ourselves that the PGA Tour will be just fine without Tiger Woods, it’s abundantly clear that Woods almost single handedly represents the health of the PGA Tour.

And like the American health care system, if you happen to get very sick, you’re in big, big trouble.

Here are some quick Nielsen Television Ratings that demonstrate exactly what happens to a Tiger-less PGA Tour.

When Woods was out in late 2008 and early 2009 due to his knee injury:

Viewership at the AT&T National was down 45.2% on Sunday Viewership at the PGA Championship was down 57.6% on Sunday Despite 53-year-old Greg Norman holding the lead with just nine holes left to play at the 2008 British Open, viewership was still down almost 15% on Sunday. Viewership for the Buick Invitational was down 57.4% in total Viewership at the BMW Championship was down 65% on Saturday and 61.5% on Sunday Viewership at the Tour Championship was down 61.6% on Saturday and 48.4% on Sunday Gate attendance at events Woods normally attends was also down anywhere between 30 percent and 50 percent in late '08 and early '09.

Now, golf is bigger than one man. It always has been.

Believe it or not, other great players have come and gone long before Woods was even a glimmer in Earl Woods' eye.

Walter Hagen retired, and the game of golf continued.

Bobby Jones walked away from the game at 28-years-old, and golf continued.

Article Source: Bleacher Report - Golf

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