The year in golf may best be summed up this way: Tiger Woods giveth, and Tiger Woods taketh away.
Woods’ early season victories accounted for substantial ratings increases. Ratings jumped 43% for his win at the Accenture Match Play Championships and 67% for his win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, his second and third straight PGA Tour victories to start this season. Golf in general was benefiting from Woods’ success; The Golf Channel drew its highest ratings ever for second round coverage the Accenture Match Play Championships, and ESPN drew what was then the highest rating ever for golf on cable during its inaugural coverage of The Masters.
Then came the first indication that something was wrong with golf’s cash cow. Woods opted to have knee surgery after The Masters, leaving the sport of golf without its biggest draw for the next several tournaments.
His return at the U.S. Open was heavily hyped and did not disappoint. Woods won the tournament in a playoff against underdog Rocco Mediate, leading to the best ratings for final round coverage in six years (7.5) and superb numbers for the Monday playoff — a 6.7 on NBC, and a record setting 4.2 cable rating and 4.7 million viewers on ESPN.
The day after Woods’ victory, the proverbial other shoe dropped. Woods announced that he would have season-ending knee surgery.
The effect on golf’s ratings was immediate. Heading into the U.S. Open, CBS and NBC had averaged a 2.8 for final round coverage of golf events. Isolating the events in which Woods played, that average jumped 79% to a 5.0.
With Woods’ absence, ratings for golf events plunged. The final round of British Open was down 11%, to a 3.3. The bottom fell out for the PGA Championship; its final round ratings were off 55%, to a record low 2.8. Overnight ratings for the four FedEx Cup tournaments were down 50% from a year ago.
Overall, ratings for golf on network television were down 12% in 2008.
In 2009, the sport of golf can look forward to what they hope is a resurgence, with Woods hoping to make his return before The Masters. But 2008 showed just how vulnerable golf is, and how much it depends on one single player to attract attention. What happens if Woods’ knee injury hastens the end of his career? Without any draw even remotely comparable to Woods, golf could be headed for a big fall in the future.
