Tiger Mania! Is it Over?

Golf in Australia has never had a week like this. All the skeptics who were critical of the Victorian state government involvement in bringing Tiger to Melbourne have crawled back into the woodwork. Today no one is complaining.

This last week has seen Melbourne become Tiger town; not even complaining about the traffic jams as fans flocked to Kingston Heath - 21,000 packed into the course each day. Even on Tuesday, when it was learned Tiger would play nine practice holes, something like 6 -7,000 people turned up. (Sydney are boasting that for the Australian Open fans will get in FREE for the first two days ... is that the only way they can get a crowd?)    

Melbournians, the world's most enthusiastic sporting fans, have truely appreciated the benefits of Tiger's visit. The state government's $1.5 million investment ( IMG, Tiger's management team and the tournament promoters, kicked in the rest) has apparently generated around $30 million worth of economic activity. The tickets were cheap at less than $50 a day.

About 35 per cent (about 35,000) of ticket sales went to fans from other states or overseas. Let’s add that up; if each visitor on average only spent $1,000, that’s $35 million of foreign money spent in Melbourne town last week. The Victorian Government has already got their money back in extra tax revenue.

That's called good business. Premier Brumby is laughing all the way to the bank

Beyond the economics though, there's this intangible thing called promotion. The game of golf in Australia has some real challenges. Club membership is falling and the once thriving Australasian PGA Tour is a shadow of its former self as it struggles to present top tier tournaments beyond the Australian Open, Masters, and PGA Championship with miniscule purses.

Will Woods' appearance put some spark back into the game?  will it spark more participation by the average Australian?  will it whet the appetite of more Top 100 players to come down under? Nice thoughts. But it's unlikely Tiger will make much real difference.

Despite him being the most recognisable athlete in America, if not the world, the number of golfers in the US has declined during his years of prominence and the golf industry over there is in dire straits. The mass embrace of the game by Afro-Americans, hoped for more than 10 years ago, has not happened; Tiger is still the only one on tour.

Tiger has said he has enjoyed his visit down under, but it's hard to see how a one-off deal like this can make a long term difference to the Australian Tour. At the presentation of the Gold Jacket (not a very good fit) he was challenged that Greg had half-a-dozen of them and that he needed to come back and get some more. But will he ???

"I would certainly love to come back," Woods said.

"I haven't looked at next year's tournament schedule yet, I will do that next month and get an idea of what I need to do for the entire year and I'll come up with a game plan."

I’m reminded that when Jack Nicklaus came here, sponsored by Kerry Packer, he put his fee into the tournament purse, making it a much bigger prize. Think what it could mean to the Masters if Tiger came back and did that.

Suddenly the purse and publicity might be big enough to attract half-dozen more of the big names to come and play. I’m sure there would be no problem in selling television and naming rights if that were the case.

Dreams? I like to think not. But there again I’ve been a dreamer all my life – still reckon I could get round Kinston Heath in 6 under.