Hope you are having a terrific week.
Most of you that receive my newsletter love the game. You probably don’t get to play as much as you would like, but you do make sure you get to play. I make the assumption that you also like golf enough to watch it on television if you’re around a set. (I’m also pretty sure that you are not as crazy as me... listening to XM on a headset as I walk a course or watch my son play his baseball game.)
These next four days the PGA Tour is in Charlotte for the Wachovia Tournament. In very few years, thanks to the tour’s help, this event has become “one of the best”. It is a great course; it is a great field; it is a set-up to The Players Championship. Everyone is there this week; everyone but a guy named Woods.
So here is my question of the day: does having Tiger in a tournament make a difference in whether or not you watch? Maybe not a scientific study, but it will show the Tiger Effect.
The Tiger effect? How about the Top 9 effect? This past weekend, EDS, the Four Seasons and the Red Pants did everything they could to create a festival for the patrons of the Nelson. They did a tremendous job. The problem? Other than the patrons, no one watched. Ratings were down. It is bad enough when Tiger does not play. The average TV rating drops about 45%.
The Salesmanship Club and EDS are putting any pressure they can on the Tour to change the date of the event. The date... That is the most important factor in the Top players choosing events. It used to be about the purse; now the purses are so big that money has little affect on a player’s decision to play. Next, it was about the course; this still has some affect, maybe 15%. But the number one reason behind a player's schedule is the date. There are 4 majors; the Players, Arnie’s, the Tour Championship and Jack’s; there’s the WGC’s; now there’s the playoffs. Guess what? That makes 14, leaving the Top players about 4 other tournaments to choose from. What chance does PODS or Buick have?
So, for a minute, let’s forget about Tiger and figure a way just to get the Top players into more events. Remembering that these guys are independent contractors, there is not a lot that can be done.
Is it time for the best players to break off and form their own tour? They’ve pretty much already done some of that by choosing their events. So how I see it is that the tour has only two choices:
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Impose the LPGA format. Each player must play in every event once every three years. That would get the job done.
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Move the tournament dates around every couple of years. While this might be more difficult on the tournaments, I think they’d be happy to work it out to get Phil or Tiger or Ernie at their event. Remember, there is always a dead tournament the week or two after a major.
Is there a downside to these options? Sure there is. Arnie might get shorted, but just like the Nelson, when Mr. Palmer passes or if the greens are not improved quickly, no one will show there either. The Top players might decide to move on... but someone has to help the weaker dates and they better do it quickly or about 6 - 8 events will be removed from the schedule.
A reporter friend of mine came up with the following, “How about making the week after each major a dead week.” No event. Well, from the standpoint of the top players, it basically already is dead. The problem is that the tour cannot forget about the other 150 players that need events.
So, for now, most events beg for fields (or hire private jets to take the players to The Open Championship). What we do know is that something must be done.
