SMILING AGAIN
With Tiger in the lead, NBC ratings soar 206 per cent over 2017
Striding down the 18th fairway, it felt like a renewal for Tiger Woods in every sense, a walk where he tried to leave behind the psychodrama of his life in the last decade.
On the final green of the Tour Championship in Atlanta on Sunday, he finally putted his ball into the hole, and with arms raised and a broad smile on his face, the cheering seemed like it would never stop — just like the old days.
But if this was not the old Tiger, winning his first tournament after a five-year drought, it was at least a different version, something fans across the sporting world appeared to grasp. Woods’ myriad troubles, from serial adultery to an arrest last year as he sat asleep at the wheel of his car with the motor running, had made Woods difficult to embrace for many golf fans, even as he tried to remake himself.
On Sunday, it seemed fans were hungry for a Tiger Woods uncomplicated by scandal or injury or caught up in the political cross-currents of the day and instead purely masterful at golf.
Like a conquering (or is it comeback?) hero, he marched forcefully through a delirious throng that pushed past security guards to follow and encircle him in a wave not seen before in modern golf.
Now what?
His breakthrough victory could have multiple ripple effects for golf. For one, as was evident when he won his first major championship in 1997, a contending Woods makes casual sports fans watch televised golf — ratings
tend to soar when he is on the course. He has a similar impact on attendance at golf events, as he did Sunday in Atlanta.
On Monday, the Golf Channel announced that NBC’s final round coverage of the Tour Championship drew a 5.21 overnight rating. That is an increase of 206 per cent over the 2017 tournament.
It is also possible Woods will attract a new generation of golf fans and maybe even participants to the game. Many young sports fans had no doubt heard about Woods’ many stirring championships, but they had not witnessed one.
Quantifying the economic impact on the PGA Tour is a little trickier. Woods’ presence makes the PGA Tour more attractive to
sponsors and it lifts associated companies, like Bridgestone, which recently had the good fortune to sign Woods to a new deal to use their golf ball. If Woods is again contending at most tournaments, golf in general becomes more relevant and mainstream and that in turn benefits every facet of the game from public golf courses to equipmentand apparel-makers.
That all depends on Woods’ staying power on the course, but for now fans new and old — and the various corporate interests that make money off golf — caught a glimpse of the kind of mania that a dominant Tiger Woods can elicit, an enthusiasm that history has shown to be contagious. And come April, when the Masters tournament
begins in Georgia, guess who will be among the favourites to win — if not the favourite? It will be Woods, the four-time Masters champion.
Woods’ victory Sunday could also revive a debate that drew fans to the game for most of the 2000s: Will Tiger meet or exceed Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18 major championships?
Sports fans of any ilk love the drama of someone trying to rewrite the record book.
Woods did not disappoint as he took control of the tournament from the outset. He built a commanding five-stroke lead with seven holes to play, and while he appeared a little rattled in the closing stages, he had the victory in hand when he began marching toward the 18th hole, with an
escort of thousands of jubilant supporters in tow.
“I felt like crying and I did begin to tear up,” Woods later said of his advance on the final green. “But I had to pull myself together because I still had a few shots to finish what I started.”
When it was over, the cheering for Woods all but drowned out the television announcers.
“I’ve had a not-so-easy few years,” Woods said. “And this entire year, the fan support has been like nothing I ever remember. When I came back, I didn’t know what to expect. But the energy from the fans has uplifted me on those days when it was difficult for me. They’ve been great to me.”
Tiger, in some form, is back. But there is something new.