Once known as the most popular athlete in the world before Lebron James’ explosion into the limelight in the mid 2000s, Tiger Woods currently finds himself immersed in another field of adversity as he has nearly called it quits for this year’s PGA tour season after undergoing back surgery in late March. The 38-year-old has not won one of professional golf’s prestigious major championships since June of 2008 at the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines. It has been nearly six whole years since Tiger has been relevant as potentially the most dominant athlete of all time, and likewise it has been six years since millions upon millions of TVs across the world have tuned in on Sunday to watch another Tiger victory at a major championship.
Tiger Woods is a golfer unlike any other, and the TV ratings for this year’s Masters Championship at Augusta support that point. In the 2013 Masters, with Tiger seemingly on his way to a stunning 15th major championship, (which would put him three behind Jack Nicklaus for most all-time), ESPN drew a TV rating for its second round tournament coverage of 3.5 million viewers. Now compare this to ESPN’s ratings for this year’s second round coverage, which of course Tiger missed because of his back surgery. Without Tiger in attendance, the second round of the 2014 Master’s drew only 2.2 million viewers, nearly a 40% drop in ratings. This statistic insinuates that a whopping forty percent of 2013 viewers were tuned in for the sole reason of watching Tiger’s pursuit of a 15th major, and his pursuit of the title of the best golfer of all-time.
The drastic comparison of ESPN’s masters coverage with and without Tiger’s presence reaffirms the idea that a Tiger Woods’ victory at a major championship is not just a victory, but so much more. It is visible just by watching Tiger hit one shot in a tournament and then comparing it to watching any other golfer. When Tiger plays in a major tournament, he is followed religiously by hoards of spectators, turning a Tiger Woods approach shot from the fairway, followed by the roar of applause, into what traditional golfers would deem as anarchy.
Our country craves dominance, especially when it makes a bunch of rich, white guys look really stupid at the hands of a man dubbed by his father as ‘Tiger’. When the average person watches a major golf tournament, they see the pretty grass, the sponsors, the money, the exclusivity, the old people, but then they see Eldrick ‘Tiger’ Woods. When the average person watches Tiger Woods (the Tiger Woods of the mid 2000s), they see the intimidation factor, the dominance, the flair, the red and black clothes, the Nike swoosh, the money, the diversity, and most importantly, the excitement. Golf needs Tiger like the average American needs their regular caffeine fix, without caffeine, quite frankly we are worth nobody’s time, and it’s the same for a Tiger-less PGA tour.
Without the ferocious dominance, excessive fist pumps, and roars of the crowd, what is there for the average American to care about? No offense to the incredible talents of the rest of the PGA tour, but not a whole lot of regular, American, non-golf players want to watch some skinny guy from Ireland or Sweden duel it out over the course of four entire hours with the rest of the field.
Sadly, because of Tiger’s most recent injury, we will have to wait quite some time to witness more Tiger dominance. The sad and blatant truth is that Tiger has not been the same since the destruction of his marriage, which seemed to acclimate with that infamous Thanksgiving night of 2009, when his then-supermodel wife Elin Nordegren allegedly smashed the windows of his Cadillac Escalade. Tiger certainly did not help his cause when he held a painfully uncomfortable press conference in which he admitted to his numerous affairs (ranging from porn stars to night club owners), eventually leading to his Mother breaking down in tears on live television. When all of Tiger’s adversity is taken into account, from the divorce, to the rehab for his sex addiction, to the caddie change (which may have hindered him most of all), to the injuries, it is clear that both Tiger and the PGA need a Tiger comeback more than ever.
New York Yankee legend Yogi Berra once said: “90 percent of the game is mental, and the other is half physical.” Unfortunately for Tiger, this statement hits multiple sore sports. Tiger has not been the same mentally for the last six years, and because of the injuries he has also not been the same physically. Fortunately for Tiger and for the PGA, golfers have longer careers than in any other sport, and it is not uncommon that the older a player gets, the more his game matures.
Tiger now obviously needs to think about the long-term, he is currently second all-time in major championship victories, and four major wins behind Jack Nicklaus for most all-time. Tiger needs his edge back, and it may require a push of the reset button, or a vacation from the game he loves, but it worked for Michael Jordan when he dabbled in baseball, and if Tiger wants to regain Jordanesque dominance, it starts between his ears.
