Tiger Woods: Will Golf Maintain Its Popularity Without Woods Contending?

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Tiger Woods Hasn't Been Himself, But Can Golf Overcome His Struggles?

There is no denying Tiger Woods' impact on the game of golf.

His emergence as a face of the sport gave the PGA Tour someone to market, and he helped make the sport of golf more popular than it has ever been. Television ratings went through the roof and people started buying things because of Woods' involvement with them.

How many people would be buying golf video games if Tiger's name wasn't on it? I know I didn't own a golf game before then.

Now Tiger has found himself going through the worst stretch of his career, and if it keeps up, the game cannot continue to experience the same type of success it did when Woods was at the height of his powers and winning countless major tournaments.

Don't get me wrong here, the game is not going to fade into obscurity, but it's not going to be a wildly popular sport that gets great television ratings, at least not the ones these tournaments got when Tiger was playing and in contention.

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There are young players on tour, but there is no one as magnetic and compelling as Tiger Woods. While his career is winding down, the game needs him to come back in a big way. No one would have been nearly as compelled with the Masters if Tiger didn't make that charge on the front nine.

Once news of that started to leak out, people scrambled to televisions to see what was going on and if Woods could break through and win another Masters to snap his year-long losing streak. He fell short, but it was compelling television.

We need more of that as golf fans, and so does the sport.

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