Wood-less tournaments trying to put positive
spin on things
By Ed Sherman
Chicago Tribune
(KRT)
CHICAGO-Philosophical question: If a tree falls in the forest
during a golf tournament and Tiger Woods isn't there to hear to
it, does it still count as a golf tournament?
The answer is yes, but does anyone care?
It's golf without Tiger, Week 3. Woods hasn't played since
his victory in the Masters on April 13, and won't play again until
the GTE Byron Nelson Classic in Dallas, which begins May 15.
Yet even on spring break- romping on movie sets with Kevin
Costner-Woods has set a new caste system for golf. If he is playing
in your event, as he will in the Motorola Western Open, hire extra
accountants.
But if he skips your tournament, as he will for four straight
weeks until the Nelson, you might as well hold a satellite tour
tournament.
The shunned tournament organizers are trying to put a positive
spin on being Woods-less, but the players know the real score.
"If you win a tournament and he's not there, they should
put an asterisk next to your name: Tiger wasn't there that week,"
veteran pro Brad Faxson said after finishing second at the Greater
Greensboro Open.
Woods' rise has been a phenomenal boon for golf. But it does
have a potential downside because there's only so much Tiger to
go around.
Woods can't play every week; he probably will enter 20 to 24
events this year, leaving as many as 20 tournaments without him.
Somehow, watching Faxson battle Frank Nobilo at Greensboro
doesn't satisfy the need for a Tiger fix.
"It's the only thing people want to know-'Is Tiger playing?"
Western Open tournament director Greg McLaughlin said. "The
product's not totally diminished (if he doesn't play). There are
other great stories to be told. But don't tell me the NBA's not
diminished if Michael Jordan's not playing."
The Western Open does have Woods, and its phones haven't been
the same. McLaughlin reports that in the two weeks following the
Masters, the Western has tripled its sales compared with last
year's. Attendance for the four-day event, which begins July 3,
could reach 250,000, up from a record 170,000 last year.
The phones rang like crazy in the days following the Masters.
It died down a bit until Woods' appearance on "Oprah"
last week.
"Then the phones rang off the hook again," McLaughlin
said.
Little wonder. The Woods show did a 46 ratings share in Chicago,
meaning nearly half of the area's television sets in use were
tuned to Tiger during that hour.
Television loves Woods, as the numbers for the Masters showed.
The tournament scored a 20.2 rating for the final half-hour of
Woods' run for the green jacket, trailing only "ER"
and "Seinfeld" that week. An estimated 44-million people
watched at least a portion of the last round.
It seemed like 44 people were watching the following week when
the Woods letdown set in at the MCI Heritage Classic. Even with
popular Nick Price winning, the tournament registered a mere 2.6
share for the last round, its lowest ever.
The Greensboro numbers were up, in part because of bad weather
in the East. But the golf world can't wait for the Nielsen ratings,
especially if Woods wins again.
"I can look at the TV ratings and tell you which ones
he plays," said Mike Milthorpe, tournament director of the
Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, an event Woods skipped.
The PGA Tour can do the same thing. Tour officials began talks
with the networks this week on new television contracts. Think
Woods' name won't come up a few million times . . . as in a few
million dollars?
Publicly, the PGA Tour is restrained, so as not to slight the
other moons in the Woods galaxy.
"We've got a lot of very, very attractive players,"
said Donna Orender, the tour's senior vice president for television.
"Our core audience won't leave if Tiger's not playing. They
are the most loyal audience in sports. Tiger gives us the upside."
Tournaments are dying for the upside. Without Woods, there
isn't the potential for the 40 percent bump that the Western could
experience. There's also the perception that a tournament is a
"B" event without him.
Naturally, such talk makes tournament officials edgy, and Woods
doesn't help ease their anxiety-at the Masters, he refused to
reveal his upcoming schedule. Woods won't commit until late, giving
himself the option of opting out. He doesn't want to make any
promises he can't keep.
The Western is an exception. Woods has strong ties to the tournament,
and McLauglin is close to the family. Tiger also has a clinic
scheduled in Chicago that week.
The Bob Hope wasn't as lucky, even with a personal appeal to
Woods from Bob himself.
"People are going to say it's not a great event unless
Tiger is there, and that's not true," Milthorpe said. "We
still had a strong field. We had a good tournament. All you do
is hope he comes next year."
The Quad City Classic, which runs the week after the Western,
is holding out hope for this year. Woods had a chance to win his
first pro tournament there last year, but slipped on the last
day.
Tournament director Kym Hougham saw Woods in March, and he
hasn't ruled out his return even though it is the week before
the British Open.
"He said, 'I owe you guys. You should have been my first
win,' " Hougham said. "He wants to come. He knows what
his impact is."
The tournament already is in better shape just because Woods
played there last year. He brought new fans to the event.
But if Woods played this year, there would be so many fans
the Quad Cities would become the Quintuple Cities.
So Hougham dreams the way tournament directors do.
"If I get to him again I'm going to say, 'You don't have
to tell me you're coming, just don't tell me you're not coming,'
" Hougham said.
(c) 1997, Chicago Tribune.
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