Can Golf Survive Without Tiger Woods? And Vice Versa?

The Masters, 2005
After a three year drought, Tiger Woods storming back at Augusta in 2005, defeating American Chris DiMarco in a playoff round. Jamie Squire / Getty

For years, we watched him fight. Tiger Woods was the guy with the icy stare, and pumping fists; the guy with a broken leg who beat Rocco Mediate. The most astounding aspect of the Tiger Woods scandal, besides the sheer number of alleged infidelities, and the swift shattering of a man's manufactured character, is how he has taken it all sitting down. Amazingly, each and every day has gotten worse: humiliating text messages, allegations of bedding porn stars and prostitutes. And amazingly, Woods never punched back, leaving reasonable people to wonder whether it's all true. Now, employing the media spinmeister's trick of dumping news late on Friday afternoon, Woods has admitted to "infidelity" (ah, that's what he meant by his original confession of "transgressions"), and announced on his website that he's going to stop playing golf for awhile. Tiger is in retreat. The fight will come another day — if at all.

When will Woods play again? If he's true to his word, and he is indeed taking this indefinite leave to save his family, he might not tee up for a very long time. He clearly has a lot of work ahead of him. Tiger's absence is a horrendous development for golf. In a down economy, the sport is already hurting for sponsors. Without Woods, they won't come rushing through the ropes. But Tiger's decision is not the death-knell many might suspect. Yes, golf ratings often get sliced in half when Woods doesn't play in a tournament. But don't be surprised if a curious audience chooses to sample golf next year in higher numbers than expected.

First off, viewers might tune in to see how the networks handle Tiger's absence. Will an announcer like NBC's Johnny Miller, not known for pulling punches, be candid about Tiger's off-course woes? What will other players have to say? Or will the networks just choose to ignore the scandal? That would be a silly strategy because: 1) the golf audience is not stupid ;and 2) the golf media now really has no reason to fear Tiger's wrath. In the past, the networks needed Woods way more than he needed them. Now, Tiger can use all the help he can get. He's in no position to throw media fits upon returning to the tee. (Read more... )


source: Time.com