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America's
golfing wellbeing depending on Tiger
America's PGA Tour today will conclude the first full-field tournament
of 2003, the Sony Open in Hawaii. It is the second event of the
season in which the tour - worth $225m this year - missed their
biggest marketing tool.
Laid up by a knee problem for which surgery was needed last month,
Tiger Woods is resting at home in Orlando as the best of the rest
are 5,000 miles to the west. The world No1 probably will not play
competitively until the middle of next month in San Diego, which
makes a big difference to those concerned with the tour’s financial
wellbeing.
Last year, tournaments in which Woods participated drew an average
television rating of 2.4, or about 2.5 million American households.
When Woods did play, numbers rose by 45.8%, and when he was in contention
come Sunday afternoon, they went up a further 16.7%. Tiger sells.
It could be argued that, were it not for the presence of perhaps
the greatest golfer of all time, the PGA Tour, for all the apparent
opulence, would be facing an uncertain future in a shaky economic
climate. Even with Tiger around, times are decidedly harder than
over the past decade, a time of unprecedented growth: since 1993,
purses have risen by 272%.
The 2003 schedule is one tournament down on last year, the calendar
was not completed until November, four months later than normal,
and 11 events will be lacking title sponsors. The simple reason:
lack of money.
To justify the $1bn contract that he signed with television networks
almost two years ago, PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem is asking
prospective sponsors to pay more than ever for the privilege of
show-casing squeaky-clean golfers, such as Phil Mickelson and David
Toms. Woods aside, that image is golf’s biggest promotional
asset. Compared with drug- and controversy-ridden sports like basketball,
baseball and American football, golfers represent an advertiser’s
dream.
Finchem, in fact, has done a terrific job for his members. "The
overall strength of the product is driven by the image of the players,
and the increasing view by companies that they want to be associated
with a sport that gives back," he said. Giving back means,
for example, that the PGA Tour, Senior Tour and Buy.com events generated
almost $68m for charities in 2001.
Elsewhere, times are even tougher. The likes of the newly-packaged
Champions Tour and the LPGA Tour face decidedly-dodgy futures: both
have lost tournaments from last year.
Seniors events have lost much of their glamour. With the likes
of Lee Trevino, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player too
old to contend for meaningless titles, viewers are left with Hale
Irwin, Bruce Fleisher and Tom Kite. Is it any wonder that an average
of 175,000 American TVs were tuned into the veterans last year on
CNBC, a relatively obscure cable channel? Nostalgia is no match
for Tiger.
Prospects for the women look even bleaker. Not only are the best
players foreigners in an American-dominated market, but the leading
three - Annika Sorenstam of Sweden, Australian Karrie Webb and Korea’s
Se Ri Pak - are almost devoid of charisma. When one says anything
interesting to the media, it will be a first.
In contrast, prospects for the European Tour are bright, albeit
with an asterisk. For one thing, some of the ‘accounting practices’
employed by the tour’s media department are questionable. Though
only the elite Europeans compete in the American majors and World
Golf Championship events, money won counts towards the Order of
Merit. Hardly fair on the rank and file.
Still, it cannot be denied that executive director Ken Schofield
and his staff are sharp operators in the sponsorship field, and
the tour schedule looks remarkably robust.
On an even happier note, Ernie Els’ record-breaking performance
in winning the Mercedes event - an unbelievable 31-under par in
triumphing by eight strokes - also augurs well. Not only does the
big South African’s stunning form suggest that we may have
someone who can take Tiger on more than occasionally; such scoring
hints at what might be an unprecedented year for the shattering
of records.
Expunging notable names and numbers from the annals of the game
is not everyone’s cup of char, but then watching golf like
that played by Els a week ago is far from boring. It may even be
good enough to persuade a few CEOs to dip into company coffers,
Tiger or no Tiger. Tim Finchem certainly hopes so
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