Change in golfing landscape

As Tiger Woods decides to take an "indefinite break" from golf, PHILIP REIDwonders what affect it will have on the PGA Tour in the US

FROM THE time, just over 13 years ago, Tiger Woods uttered his “hello, world” comment when embarking on a paid career, professional golf has been cocooned in a world of its own: bigger prize funds, greater endorsement deals, an increased following beyond its traditional fan base.

All of this munificence was on the back of one man, a man believed to be the greatest golfer who has ever lived and one with a public image of a clean-cut superstar who had sponsors falling over themselves to be a part of him.

In just two weeks, with day-on-day revelations of his “infidelity”, that world has changed forever. For Woods. For sponsors. For the PGA Tour. And – in a domino effect – the other tours and players around the world, who benefited from his marketing appeal and on-course brilliance.

The fallout, though, from Woods “transgressions” have changed the landscape.

For Woods, the drip-drip withdrawal of some of his sponsors in the last few days has been evident: Gillette has decided to limit “his role in our marketing programmes”, while only last night Accenture announced it had ended its contract. A statement on Accenture’s website read: “For the past six years, Accenture and Tiger Woods have had a very successful sponsorship arrangement and his achievements on the golf course have been a powerful metaphor for business success in Accenture’s advertising.

“However, given the circumstances of the last two weeks, after careful consideration and analysis, the company has determined that he is no longer the right representative for its advertising.”

Only Nike, who signed him up from day one of his professional career, and EA Sports have come out with strong support.

For the first time in his professional life, Woods – who earns on average €6.8 million in winnings annually but 10 times that in his off-course endorsement deals – is taking something of a financial hit, although in the great scheme of things that is now very much secondary as his personal and family situation has taken over as the priority.

As Woods put it in his most recent statement, “after much soul-searching, I have decided to take an indefinite break from professional golf . . . I need to focus my attention on being a better husband, father, and person.”

But how will Woods’s decision to take “an indefinite break” affect the tours, primarily the US PGA Tour, and what affect will it have on sponsorships?

Graeme McDowell, who competed in the Shark Shoot-out in Florida over the weekend, put it succinctly when asked by reporters to assess the situation.

“It’s a scary vision, it’s a very scary vision. We’re under no illusions, we’re much more prosperous golfers for having Tiger Woods playing in our era,” responded McDowell.

Woods’s decision to take his hiatus from golf puts a question mark over just when he will play in 2010, if at all. Does it mean he won’t play until after the San Diego Open in late January which was intended to mark his return . . . or the Accenture Matchplay in February . . . or the US Masters in April, a tournament which probably makes the most sense in terms of a less-intrusive return?

One thing is for sure: history has shown us that a tournament without Woods suffers a dramatic fall in TV ratings, by up to 50 per cent, and players on the PGA Tour are right to be concerned by the effect any long-term absence by the world’s number one will have in terms of attracting title sponsors to tournaments.

Indeed, a number of contracts are being renegotiated (talks which started even before the Woods scandal broke) and a number of tournaments, including next month’s Bob Hope and the San Diego Open, are without title sponsors.

The affect on the European Tour is unlikely to be anywhere as great as in the US. Only last week, the European Tour announced a schedule that will take in a minimum of 47 tournaments, including six new events.

As Guy Kinnings, the head of IMG Europe, put it, “golf has handled Tiger’s absence before, if for different reasons. The impact will be on TV viewers and a few PGA Tour tournaments.

“Hospitality and the events associated with Tiger might be affected, but there will also be a huge anticipation for his return.”

TV ratings for golf will be affected by the absence of Woods for however long he requires to restore trust with his family.

And, while the fallout of this whole affair will also affect other players in the pocket, with potentially fewer sponsors around, the real loser is Woods. His image, so important to him ever since he hit his first shot as a professional and went off in the quest to overtake Jack Nicklaus’s record of 18 Majors, can never be the same.

Words on Woods' situation

“I had no knowledge of what was going on. If I did, I would say I did. I’m an honest person.”

– Woods’s caddie Steve Williams

“But if he doesn’t play for the first six months of next year then he might have decided he’s come to the end of the road. He’s going to have to put up with a lot of nonsense and ridicule and comment for the next 20 to 30 years and it depends how well he tackles that.”

– Commentator Peter Alliss

“There is a mystique which has been lost now and let’s hope that golf isn’t damaged by that – and it shouldn’t be. There was an aura and that wall, if you like, has been split slightly, so there are cracks and I feel that it gives us more opportunity of winning these big events now.”

– Colin Montgomerie

“It’s tragic. I think this whole thing is tragic. I am in touch with his wife, Elin, now and then. Me and my husband, Mike, have been out dining with Elin and Tiger on a few occasions. Perhaps it won’t happen as often now.”

– Annika Sorenstam

“He has done an awful lot for golf and the sport needs Tiger to come back. We don’t have another Tiger Woods in the background that we can rely on. He is one of those one in a million that come around. It’s put golf on the map.”

– Sandy Lyle

“It’s a scary vision, it’s a very scary vision. We’re under no illusions, we’re much more prosperous golfers for having Tiger Woods playing in our era.”

– Graeme McDowell

“Watching golf without Tiger is like watching the Three Stooges without Curly. He’s the spark, the catalyst, he’s a good guy and bad guy all in one.”

– Scott Becher, president of Coral Gables, Florida-based Sports Sponsorship Inc.

“They always say that there’s nobody bigger than the game of golf itself, but right now in these times there is, and it’s him.”

– John Daly