Tiger still outshines new faces

It must tell you something about public perceptions when the major focus on last weekend’s Honda Classic in Florida was blurred from the winner in a tense playoff by an also-ran who finished a modest 12th.

The winner was PGA champion Justin Thomas, at 24, one of the hottest properties in world golf and the latest of the younger stars who decorate the game’s fabled diadem of Major tournament winners.

Not all of the world’s top 10 were there to tee it up at Palm Beach Gardens in the sunshine state, but it is worth noting that in this elite grouping, eight are 30 or under, with the exceptions being the 33-year-old Dustin Johnson, and 2013 US Open champion Justin Rose the veteran at 37.

It is largely a fresh-faced and highly talented new generation.

In retrospect, all of them – as well as their bank managers – owe a huge debt to Tiger Woods, whose charisma in front of the cameras and prodigious feats on the course were the fountainhead of the tsunami of sponsorship that engulfed the professional game.

Yet into the mix in Florida was the instantly recognisable face of the 42-year-old Woods, who has battled a ruined reputation and an equally battered back.

Woods, the winner of 14 Major championships and one of the highest paid athletes in the world for several years – the authoriative Forbes Magazine certified him as being the first professional sportsman to become a dollar billionaire – was in action, having finally clawed his way back from outside the top 1 000 in the world ratings.

Perhaps only our own Ernie Els can boast the same recognition factor – though the magic of the Big Easy stems from a very different type of smiling, laid-back implied intimacy with the global golfing public.

Yet, such is the magnetic pull of the Tiger that even as he trailed his way home, the television cameras and the hushed voices of the commentators followed every footstep.

It now seems fairly certain, barring any more medical problems, that Woods, a four-time champion in the season’s first Major, will be teeing it up in the US Masters at Augusta National next month.

And equally certain is that the cameras will be all over him when he gets there.