British Open 2011: Why TV Ratings Will Continue to Suffer Without Tiger Woods

The 2011 British Open is set to begin on July 14th at Royal St. George's Golf Club. Rory McIlroy will try to follow up his stunning dominance at the U.S. Open by holding off a field that includes higher-ranked players like Lee Westwood, Luke Donald, and Martin Kaymer.

As you can see, all of golf's stars are ready to try and capture golf's oldest major championship. Well, there is one exception.

Tiger Woods is not going to be there. Tiger released this statement on Tuesday, via his website:

"

"Unfortunately, I’ve been advised that I should not play in the British Open. As I stated at the AT&T National, I am only going to come back when I’m 100 percent ready. I do not want to risk further injury. That’s different for me, but I’m being smarter this time.

I’m very disappointed and want to express my regrets to the British Open fans."

"

As a British Open fan, I accept your apology, Tiger. I certainly don't think he is faking his injury, and I would believe he would be out there if he could.

However, it is not me you should be apologizing to, Tiger. That apology needs to go to PGA commissioner Tim Finchem and his fellow golfing peers. 

Why? Because without Tiger, the ratings for golf are plummeting. And with plummeting ratings, plummeting tournament purses are sure to follow.

Make no mistake about it, golf cannot achieve the same ratings without Tiger that it can with him. It is no fault of the golfers. The fields are deeper than ever. The tournaments are as closely contested as ever, and these guys are playing some spectacular golf.

Rory McIlroy's U.S. Open performance was so phenomenal that it prompted people to ask if he was the next Tiger Woods. But that right there is the problem. McIlroy is being compared to Tiger Woods. 

Fans aren't going to be as compelled to see someone try to match greatness as they are to see a level of greatness they have never seen before.

When Tiger came along, the golf world was blown away. People questioned if Tiger could beat Jack Nicklaus' record of major victories, but they were stumbling to find anyone to compare his dominance to. The most common refrain was that the world of golf had never seen anything like it.

So while Rory McIlroy's game will spark some interest in the sport, he is not going to drive ratings like Tiger.

That is, unless he can somehow get to the point where people stop wondering if he is the next Tiger Woods, and start to wonder if there will ever be another Rory McIlroy.

The discussion is similar one taking place among NBA fans. Those fans have been wondering and debating who the next Michael Jordan will be since Jordan retired the second time. Different players have held the distinction, and Kobe Bryant has come close, but interest in the NBA has not approached Jordan levels of popularity since.

It wasn't until this season that interest in the NBA came close to the Jordan era, because it wasn't until this season that the Miami Heat gave the NBA world something it hadn't seen before.

There is nothing on the horizon that will give golf the help it needs to make up for the ratings boost that Tiger Woods provides.

Except, of course, Tiger Woods himself.