Tiger Woods Needs To Start Committing Earlier

If you work in an office anywhere in America, you have most likely taken part in office March Madness pools, fantasy baseball, fantasy football, and maybe even one of those distasteful death pools.

Well, now 9-5 workers can take their minds of those impending layoffs by organizing a new type of sports pool; they could call it the "when will Tiger Woods commit" pool.

Unless you have been living on another planet for the past eight months, you will know all too well that we are in the midst of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. 

Every aspect of the business world is in one way or another being negatively affected by this global recession, including the professional sports industry.

Perhaps no professional sport has the potential to be as detrimentally affected by this financial meltdown as the PGA Tour. 

The PGA Tour relies heavily on companies from either the auto or financial services industries, who combine to make up more than 40 percent of the tour’s title sponsors.

Lately there has been a lot of talk circulating about what players can do to help out the PGA Tour during this tough economic time.

Players have been encouraged to attend more events, do more to engage fans and sponsors, and anything else that would help to promote the PGA Tour.

PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchen certainly knows the gravity of the situation the tour is facing. 

Prior to the start of the 2009 season, Finchem sent a video to every player and their agent appealing for them to attend more events and do their part to promote the PGA Tour.

Finchem’s appeals seem to have fallen upon deaf ears so far, particularly when it comes to the game's biggest stars.

As we saw as clear as day during the second half of the 2008 season, the PGA Tour is greatly reliant on one man—Tiger Woods.

Woods’ return to competitive golf at the Accenture Match Play Championship in February was the biggest thing to hit the golf world since the Tiger Woods/Rocco Mediate showdown at Torrey Pines last June.

Putting the entire health of the PGA Tour upon one man’s shoulders is a heavy burden that should not be placed on any individual.

However, there are some small things that Tiger Woods could be doing, now that he is back and healthy. He could really have a positive impact on both the PGA Tour and its sponsors, perhaps most notably by having the courtesy to commit to tournaments further in advance.

Obviously Woods is still coming off a pretty significant knee surgery and is trying to ease his way back into competitive golf.  But, by all accounts, including his own, Woods’ knee does not seem to be giving him any trouble whatsoever on the course.

That being said, right from the start of his knee issues following the 2008 Masters, he has withheld the severity of his injury from fans, sponsors and, most of all, the media.  So, it is not far fetched to believe that he could still be playing on a delicate left knee and just not talking about it or visibly showing any pain or discomfort on the course.

But, if Woods’ knee is indeed as healthy as it appears to be, why is he waiting until the absolute last minute to commit to events? 

Woods committed to the Accenture Match Play Championship with just hours to spare before the deadline, and he did the same for the WGC-CA Championship. 

He committed slightly earlier to the Arnold Palmer Invitational and everyone knew he was playing in the Masters.

Next week the PGA Tour will head to North Carolina for the Quail Hollow Championship, which is an event Woods normally attends and one that is in desperate need of a boost after title sponsor Wachovia fell victim to the financial crisis, going belly-up last year.

Yet here we are, just eight days from the start of the tournament and there has still been no official word from Woods as to whether or not he will be attending the Quail Hollow Championship.

What is the big deal about committing to a tournament early? You may be asking.

Well, needless to say, when Tiger Woods commits to an event, ticket sales go through the roof in a mater of days. 

When Woods waits until the last minute to commit to an event, which he has been doing since his return, he takes away a large number of potential ticket sales from people who would have purchased tickets two weeks ago, but might have other plans less than a week before the start of an event.

Again, putting this kind of weight upon one man, out of the more than 150 players on the PGA Tour, is probably too much to ask. 

There are many other players that could also be doing a lot more for the PGA Tour during this recession.  But, it is what it is, and in this tough economic time when every player has a real responsibility to do his part to help the PGA Tour in any way they can, Tiger Woods can do his part by simply committing to tournaments earlier. 

Tiger Woods attending an event makes fans happy, sponsors happy, and television networks happy, and as a result, the money also pours in. 

When push comes to shove, the fans, sponsors, and television networks are the backbone of the PGA Tour. Without them, there is no PGA Tour.

There is an old saying that goes "with great power, comes great responsibility."  When it comes to the PGA Tour, Woods obviously has tremendous power. In this day and age of fans losing their jobs by the millions and sponsors becoming increasingly wary of all the money they are spending on the PGA Tour, Tiger Woods might need to re-evaluate how responsible it is to wait until literally the last minute to commit to events.

Obviously Woods has been a one man economic stimulus package for the PGA Tour since his return.  There is no one man in the world right now that has as much of a financial impact on a sport as Tiger Woods does with golf.

However, it is often the little things people do that tend to go the longest way.