So… has anyone heard any updates on Tiger’s return recently?
News feeds all over the world are overflowing with the news that Tiger Woods makes his return to the PGA Tour this week at Congressional Country Club for the Quicken Loans National June 26-29, 2014. Woods underwent a microdiscectomy on April 1, 2014 causing him to miss both The Masters and U.S. Open tournaments.
I’ll leave it to more accomplished authors to chronicle the impact Tiger Woods has had on the game of golf. One thought to grind over though; every professional golfer owes Tiger a sincere thank you.
Twenty years ago, Nick Price won 6 tournaments on tour. He ended the 1994 season #1 on the money list with $1,499,927. The winner of the Quicken Loans National this weekend takes home a cool $1.17 million. Bubba Watson leads the money list this year with over $5 million already. We still have 2 majors and the Fed Ex Cup to be decided.
Is hyper-inflation the appropriate term for an increase that extreme? Granted, he owes a thank you to Arnold Palmer before him, but still, the professional tour has exploded in the wake of Tiger.
As further evidence, consider the time of year currently. It’s the end of June. If you’re lucky, your game is just starting to click into mid-season form. If you’re like me, you feel like you should be warmed up by October… Carl Pettersson has earned $1,004,843 so far this season. What does a million bucks get you on the PGA Tour these days? It places you 74th on the money list. Take a look at some of the earnings here.
Consider a guy like Charles Howell III. The current #72 player in the world, Howell has 2 career wins since turning pro in 2000. I have a soft spot for pros under 6 feet tall so he’s ok in my book, but he hasn’t set the world on fire as some predicted. Averaging 1 win every 7 years has garnered him career earnings totaling $27.6 million. If he hasn’t already, CH3 needs to name his next boat the SS Eldrick.
Love him or hate him, the game is better when Tiger is around. Tournaments are more interesting. Ratings are higher. He is always a story no matter how he plays. No one should expect much from him this weekend in his only tune up before the British Open. I don’t believe the surgery will have an immediate effect on the two-way miss he has battled this year, but look for his name at the top of the favorites list to win at Royal Liverpool.
Tiger Woods is set to tee off Thursday June 26 at 6:30 a.m. EST. Charles Howell III follows an hour later with a 7:30 a.m. tee time.
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