What Will Change for Tiger Woods?

Tiger Woods’ image has been tainted—there’s absolutely no question about that.

He has spent the last 13 years creating and nurturing an image that portrays him as a champion athlete, a model husband, and an ordinary family man.

Exactly six days ago a fire hydrant caused it all to come crashing down on his head, both literally and figuratively speaking, and there's no one to blame but himself.

He will be viewed differently by many folks for weeks and months to come.

However, although both the mainstream and tabloid media are speaking as if they are preparing to attend a wake, very little is likely to change in the long run.

Sure, he may be sleeping on the couch for the next two months.

He may need to have his lawyers review whatever prenup he has in place just to make sure that it is indeed airtight, which will in turn allow him to sleep a little better out on that uncomfortable couch.  

He may look into purchasing a large steel safe to house his golf clubs and ensure that no one else other than he has access to the key.

He may also have to get used to cameras not only following his every move on the golf course, but also following him at airports, at the beach, as he comes and goes from his private Isleworth Estate, etc.

But other than that, not much else will change for Tiger Woods in the long run.

First off, his sponsors are not going anywhere.

Why?

Well, there are three reasons for that.

One: They don’t want to risk any of their competitors picking up Tiger Woods.

Example: Nike drops Tiger Woods, and Titleist immediately hands him a $100 million contract. Woods wins three majors in 2010 (which isn’t that far-fetched considering that he has already won major championships at three of the four venues that will host the 2010 majors). 

Titleist then comes out with a massive television, print, and Internet campaign with Tiger Woods essentially saying, “I switched my equipment and had one of the best years of my career; maybe you should do the same.”

That is Nike’s worst nightmare and is why they will NEVER jump ship from the Tiger Woods Brand.

Two: These companies are paying for success just as much as they are personality.

Example: Accenture drops Woods, and IBM Consulting immediately picks him up. Accenture still wants to be involved in golf because their target market is wealthy CEOs and top-level executives who gravitate towards golf more than any other sport. So, the pick up Steve Stricker instead—a good, Midwestern family man who is also one of the top golfers in the world.

Accenture then has to sit by and watch Tiger Woods mop up the course with Stricker at next year’s U.S. Open...all while wearing a shirt with a large IBM Consulting logo on it.

Would you really want to hire a consulting firm that put themselves in a situation where their "new" guy is being pummeled on national television by the guy they decided to let go?

Three: They know that these things always blow over, and they want to be there to reap the benefits when it does.

Example: Kobe Bryant, Alex Rodriguez, Andy Pettitte, Michael Jordan, David Beckham—all went through embarrassing scandals.

Where are they now?

Exactly where they were prior to those embarrassing scandals.

Our attention spans apparently cease growing the moment we leave the fifth grade. This too will eventually blow over; it always has and always will.

Conclusion

Yes, Woods’ sponsors may not be happy with him at this very moment, but the risk of them jumping ship far outweighs the risks involved with continuing to make him their company spokesman.

Secondly, will Woods continue to dominate the PGA Tour?

Of course he will.

The guy won the U.S. Open while playing on a broken leg. Do you really think some personal issues will get in the way of him chasing down the records that he’s devoted his entire life to breaking?

Sure, the mental game is a huge part of golf, and any chips in a golfer’s mental armor can be extremely detrimental.

However, Woods has always had an uncanny ability to compartmentalize his life, perhaps better than any other modern athlete.  

If you’ve ever seen Woods on a golf course, you’ll know that it looks as if he doesn’t even know that there are massive crowds lining the fairways of every single hole he plays. He doesn’t seem to know that there are others playing alongside of him, or that television cameras are beaming out his every move to the entire world.

If there really is such a thing as "the zone," Tiger Woods seems to have the ability to move in and out of it at will.

Yes, this is an embarrassing incident that might carry with it some mental scarring, but don’t expect Woods do anything else other than what he’s always done once inside the ropes—block out everything other than golf.

Third, will he lose any fans?

Here in America, when it comes to sports and entertainment, we love three things more than anything else.  

1) We love creating heroes.

2) We love to see our heroes fall from grace.

3) We love a good comeback story.

Woods’ fans may be disappointed. 

His younger fans may come home from school today and ask their parents what “transgression” means.

A member of an elite country club might not want to be seen wearing his Tiger Woods cap for a little while.

But the thing is, most have followed Tiger Woods’ career for one reason and one reason only—he has been the most dominant player to ever pick up a golf club, and that is unlikely to change.

At the end of the day, the obscure chance that we might see greatness is the real reason why we turn on the television to watch Tiger Woods.

We see ordinary things like car accidents, affairs, divorces, etc. in our everyday lives. 

We don’t, however, see a guy hit a 212-yard five-iron out of the bunker to a back-right pin location with a lake lining the right side of the green while the tournament is on the line.

We don’t often watch a man win the U.S. Open while playing on a broken leg.

We don’t often see a guy sink tournament-winning putts 99.9 percent of the time he finds himself standing over a tournament-winning putt.

Whether he hit a fire hydrant, had an affair, had multiple affairs, or tried to cover up his affairs is irrelevant because it ultimately has no bearing on why we really tune in each week to watch Tiger Woods play golf. 

You see, at this very moment, sponsors, fans, and the entire golf world may be disappointed with Tiger Woods.

But at the end of the day, we will all gravitate back to him because his marriage, his driving skills, and his PR savviness are not why people sponsor, follow, or cheer for Tiger Woods.

Our interest in Tiger Woods rests on a single principle—we want to watch the most dominant golfer in the history of the game play golf.