Golf News: PGA tour back on track with sponsors after Tiger Woods’ improving performances
Thanks to Tiger Woods, the PGA tour is no longer experiencing trouble with sponsors. Woods' troubles did extend to the sponsors but the
PGA Tour has managed to find replacements for tournament sponsors who have dropped out.
Tiger’s troubles have unfortunately had an adverse effect on the sport of golf and the
PGA tour especially. Recently, the PGA tour was told by sponsors that they will only continue sponsoring if Tiger plays the Championship. However, this did not happen as the previous world number one ironically
fell out of contention after failing to finish in the top 30 players. This was the criteria for making the cut into the forth leg of the playoff series, which is taking place in
Atlanta this week.
“It was not the first year Tiger Woods hasn't played the Tour Championship”, said the official of
PGA tour at a press conference in Atlanta. “It is, however, the first time he hasn't played his way into the field.” Though Tiger has had spells of trouble before, he does manage to rise to the occasion after
every tumble. This is quite evident from his performances in last three weeks as he attempted to improve his standings so he can compete in the Championships. He rose from the 72nd spot to the 52nd spot
in just three events.
This rise in the Fed Ex ranking has bought back the sponsors who had earlier declared that they were all set to back out. They had argued that without Tiger, ticket sales were declining fast. However, with Tiger’s improvement,
people are flocking back and so are the sponsors. Among the parties who have offered sponsorship and assistance to the high budget events is Farmers Insurance. They have come forward to present their services as an underwriter for the event which is taking
place at Torrey Pines. Apart from them, Wells Fargo has decided to officially offer its name for the event. Additionally, Nationwide has declared that they will sponsor the Memorial Tournament.
Although, Tiger won’t be seen in any of these tournaments, the top 30 players might instead offer enough entertainment to compensate for Tiger’s no-show. Todd Rhinehart told the press that they realized that the absence of
the world number will be greatly missed at East
Lake where he won the inaugural FedEx Cup in 2007. He further added that sales of tickets are ahead of last year’s rate and that symbolizes that people are ready to invest time and money in new champions.
According to media reports, “The Tiger Effect” hasn't really pulled the Tour down this season, as some analysts projected. Although TV ratings aren’t as high as they used to be, they are still far from poor. When Tiger Woods
is playing and he's in the mood to hunt on the weekend, he spikes the ratings, but when he does not play the results are not that bad; either from a sponsor-value standpoint or from an audience-reach standpoint.
Six of the players ranked in the top 10 of the World Golf Rankings will be seen at East Lake; Phil Mickelson, Steve Stricker, Jim Furyk, Paul Casey, Luke Donald and Matt Kuchar. Apart from them, nine members of the U.S. Ryder
Cup team will also tee off at the par-72 course. The tournament might lose some fence sitters but it won’t lose the target sales.
East Lake then is still likely to see some brilliant golf, even if it’s without Tiger Woods.
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