Golf needs Tiger now more than ever

For the majority of players, the PGA Tour will begin its 2009 run today with lots of big banks hurting, almost as many automotive makers hurting and Tiger Woods still plotting his official return from a left-knee surgery that took place when the economy looked reasonably sound last June.
To say major league professional golf is standing on shaky ground is like saying it's fairly difficult to sink a 4-foot downhill putt with a million dollars dangling in the balance.
That folksy Southern guy with the even folksier name -- Boo Weekley -- wasn't just whistling "Dixie" when he said last week that 2009 will be "purdy important" for everyone hoping to make a fancy living off fancy shotmaking.

AP Photo by Danny Moloshok - Tiger Woods is still recovering from major surgery on his left knee. No one knows when he'll be able to compete.

Yep. It's safe to predict that the near future of the circuit will hinge on Woods' ability to come through with a one-man financial bailout performance for his fellow pros.
Woods will not play in this week's Sony Open in Honolulu, and almost no one expects him to be in the field when the PGA Tour returns to the mainland for next week's 50th Bob Hope Classic on four courses in the La Quinta, Calif., area.
If most of the speculation is on target, Woods won't debut until at least mid-to-late-February, possibly as late as the Accenture Match Play Championship, which will end March 1 in Arizona. That would give him a few weeks to properly gauge his durability before the Masters, which will begin April 9.
No one in his right mind would bet against Woods making a reasonably quick recovery and moving back into the dominant position in the sport.
But for many of us, it's easy to forget that Woods turned 33 years old on Dec. 30, and only the most devoted golf fans recall that the reconstructive surgery on the anterior cruciate ligament last June technically was the second operation on the same knee. There was another, although less extensive, surgery last April.
Whether Woods has chronic left-knee trouble can't be known for a while, but it's not too early for the lords of the tour to start worrying about that possibility. While many of the television contracts have been signed and sealed through the 2011 season, a period of corporate default is upon all of us, even the world's elite golfers.
The emergence of Woods as the sport's ruler was a double-edged sword. On one hand, he came along just as Jack Nicklaus was exiting and brought with him a once unimaginable infusion of advertising and fan involvement.
In the TV era, it all came easy for the PGA. Arnold Palmer and Gary Player created a mania that Nicklaus and Lee Trevino quickly extended and Woods turned into an outright financial mother lode.
But there's been a certain downside to Woods. Unlike Palmer, Player, Trevino and Nicklaus, Woods quickly equated to such a tour windfall that it became easy for also-rans to earn a fortune without winning tournaments on a regular basis.
Trevino summed it up accurately a couple of years ago when he said, "The great thing for the tour is Tiger. The bad thing, though, is going to be no Tiger. What then?"
Any number of candidates have offered periods of hope -- Vijay Singh, Ernie Els, Phil Mickelson, Retief Goosen, Jim Furyk, Sergio Garcia and of late, Padrig Harrington.
But Woods changed the PGA financial formula to the extent that it became almost as lucrative to contend as to win. That's been great for players, but not so great for the future of tour business.
If Woods doesn't come back soon -- and strong -- the future is here for those many players who banked early and often by living on his coattails.

Caulton Tudor - Staff Writer
caulton.tudor@newsoberver.com or 919-829-8946

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