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No doubt, Tiger is the lure By Marc Connolly ABC Sports Online August 1 12:47pm ET | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Nothing against David Duval. The man has arguably been the best golfer in the world for the past two years. But this impending "Motorola Showdown at Sherwood" event doesn't have much to do with him.
The primetime setting. The sponsorship money. The hype. The lure. All of it is about Tiger Woods.
Think about it. Would the average weekend warrior, who trudges down to the driving range with no irons in sight, tune-in for Davis Love III-Mark O'Meara? Probably not. OK, how about even Duval-O'Meara? "If they went on golf strictly, then they should have had Duval play Mark O'Meara since he won two Majors last year while Woods and Duval didn't win any," contends Barry Stanton, a sports columnist for the Journal News in New York. "But they wouldn't have an audience for that match. No one would really care. That's why this event wouldn't get off the ground if not for Tiger." America is in the midst of a golf boom. Courses have been recently sprouting up so as to supply precious tee times for a generation of hackers that are quite diverse from the elitist crowd who once flooded clubhouses everywhere. They are younger. Many of them are not the lily-white contigent we're accustomed to seeing. While many others hit from the red tees. The interest in the happenings around the links has made it possible for several players to emerge as "name" golfers to the average sports fan, particularly among the 20-somethings. This list includes Duval, Woods, Leonard, Phil Mickelson and Ernie Els. However, only Woods -- whose electrifying 18-under-par performance in winning the Masters in 1997 single-handedly ignited the sport into new heights -- is the only full-blown celebrity the sport has. "No doubt about it, Tiger is the guy. He's the attraction," Stanton said. "Duval is a great golf talent and a big money-winner, but he's just not a crossover star like Woods." "I might be a golf star, but I think Tiger is a star," admitted Duval at the press conference announcing the match back in April. "He transcends the game." He's right. Duval is a golf star. The thing is, so are the aforementioned names in addition to the Greg Normans and Tom Lehmans on the tour. Throw Tiger into the mix against any of these golfing studs and there still might've been an opportunity to draw in the masses during an otherwise lackluster period of re-runs and second-rate sporting events on the tube. Ask a friend or the person who you pal around with at work and see what he or she says. "I don't think that it really matters who Tiger plays," said Ryan Burke, a casual golf fan from San Francisco, Calif. "Duval may arguably be the best golfer in the world, but has a raging case of Pete Sampras syndrome: no flair, and no charisma. Tiger carries enough clout to cover both in this respect." Even the types who roll their eyes at the mention of Tiger, due to the endless hype around him, might not necessarily watch to see Duval triumph, but rather to see Woods crumble. "I'd love to see Duval kick the snot out of Tiger," said Mark Kinsley, a twi-light leaguer from upstate New York. "There are plenty of us out there who are sick of being forced to watch every shot the kid takes regardless of what his score is instead of getting a feel for how the leaders are doing." This type of winner-take-all tussle isn't exactly a brand new idea. It's something the ratings-starved networks and PGA officials have discussed on a number of occasions in an attempt to re-create the type of excitement the golf world enjoyed during the glory-filled days of yesteryear when every other Sunday ultimately ended in a familiar scenario. Nicklaus vs. Palmer. Jack vs. Arnie. The Golden Bear vs. The King. When Barry Frank, a senior vice president of the International Management Group whose clients include both Duval and Woods, approached ABC Sports' new president, Howard Katz, about putting such a package together, all Katz had to do was look at the ratings Woods generates. Simply put, there's enough of a discrepancy that Katz's research director, Alan Grossinger, answers golf ratings questions with "without Tiger Woods" or "with Tiger Woods" at the end of his answers. For example, a 5.5 rating (approximately 10 million viewers) is viewed as "a good golf tournament & without Tiger Woods." The following charts illustrate why network executives celebrate occasions when Woods enters a tournament played on their air. And how his performance on the course translates into higher ratings, which ultimately means dollars and cents.
* Denotes second place finish The ratings routinely skyrocket on Sundays once all the fair-weather golf enthusiasts catch wind on "SportsCenter" or in the morning papers that their main man Tiger is in the hunt. His 27-year-old foe with the wraparound shades just doesn't inspire such mania. "He has obviously drawn in a much broader audience than I conceivably ever will," said Duval. Yet it's the "Oh, Tiger is off by only a stroke, turn it on" type of mentality that has paved the way for more tournaments - every single round of which is televised -- than ever before, including out of the ordinary showcases like the inaugural World Match-Play Championship last February and the The Showdown on August 2nd. "We are bringing golf to more viewers, to more people that don't play golf. That is a good thing," said PGA veteran and ABC Sports/ESPN analyst Curtis Strange. "It is incredible to me that golf has gotten so big that we can actually out this thing on primetime. I think that it shows how strong the game really is right now." PGA officials, sponsors and network officials alike may not admit it, but it's paramount that Woods either stays out in front or at least on par with Duval come Monday night. "Any of the ratings will come from Tiger," said Stanton, who believes casual sports fans will tune-in due to the lack of sports on TV during the dog days of summer and because of the oddity of the event. "If Duval gets way out in front, viewers will probably lose interest, but if Tiger is ahead - even if he runs away with it - they'll watch." Whether or not there is a rooting interest in the sporting world's first self-titled "Cablanasian," any hoopla that is generated will surely help to popularize the sport more so than add to Tiger's ever-growing ATM totals. "I think we will have more people turned it that ordinarily would not watch golf," said Strange, who has become annoyed with critics of the "Showdown" because it's only going to help create interest in the sport. "It is primetime Monday night. It is a big deal. You get a lot of women watching, they are a huge growing part of the game. "That is why (this match) is good for golf." Which, for all intents and purposes, was made possible by Tiger.
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Sherwood will make a lasting impression
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