As golfers lined up putts in respectful silence below, a small airplane circled over last week's PGA Tour event in San Diego - dragging a banner reading, "We miss you Tiger! Deja vu Showgirls." The next day, a competing strip club countered with a plane toting this message: "We miss you too Tiger! Dreamgirls."
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This is the strange, new realm professional golf now inhabits, where strip clubs jostle for business in the airspace above tournaments.
By most accounts, Tiger Woods originally planned to play in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, which starts Thursday. That would have created quite a scene: Woods, probably the world's most famous athlete, strolling the picturesque fairways on the Monterey Peninsula for the first time in eight years.
Then, on Nov. 27, he drove his sport utility vehicle into a fire hydrant and a tree outside his Florida home - triggering a salacious sex scandal that includes allegations of numerous extramarital affairs. The story shook the PGA Tour to its core and prompted Woods to take an indefinite leave as he tries to salvage his marriage.
As the tour swings through Northern California, it's clearly not the same without Woods, the world's No. 1 player and the game's defining figure. His absence has added another layer to the challenges facing professional golf, already coping with the effects of the nation's slumping economy.
The efforts to overcome this double whammy are meeting with mixed results. Commissioner Tim Finchem said the tour has extended sponsorship agreements, or brought in new sponsors, for 15 events in the past few months. Prize money is comparable to what it was in 2009 (about $275 million) and Finchem anticipates the tour's charitable giving to rebound from a 12 percent drop last year.
Then again, the tour could not find a title sponsor for last month's Bob Hope Classic in Palm Springs. It reached a last-minute deal with Farmers Insurance to sponsor the tournament at San Diego's Torrey Pines, reportedly for an amount well below normal. Players were not provided courtesy cars, a rare development in their coddled world.
As an example, Carter talked about watching the end of the final round from Torrey Pines on Jan. 31. He enjoys golf on television, but he found himself unfamiliar with the players tussling for the lead - from Ben Crane and Michael Sim to Brandt Snedeker and Marc Leishman - and unsuccessfully searching for a compelling story line.
"If I'm an advertiser or potential tournament sponsor, or I'm thinking about picking up a hospitality tent at one of these tournaments and I don't know who's in the field, that makes it a little tougher," Carter said.
The numbers reflect how much Woods seems to influence interest. Tournament officials placed attendance for the week at Torrey Pines - where Woods traditionally makes his season debut - between 120,000 and 130,000, about the same as last year (when Woods didn't play as he recovered from knee surgery).
In 2007 and '08, when Woods won the event then known as the Buick Invitational, attendance for the week was between 150,000 and 160,000.
National television ratings for the San Diego event increased 10 percent from last year, though they came in 48 percent below the ratings in 2008 and 58 percent below the ratings in '07. Or, for a wider-angle view, consider this: Last year, the ratings for events televised by CBS and NBC last year with Woods playing were 93 percent higher than for the events he didn't play.
More telling, maybe, is the vibe at tournaments. Woods brings a rock-star aura to golf's often churchlike setting, not only in sheer numbers of spectators but also in their volume. That was plainly evident during the first two days of the San Diego tournament.
"It's a different atmosphere here without Tiger, isn't it?" said tour pro Charlie Wi, a onetime Cal standout. "It's just quieter. When Tiger's around, it's always chaos. It's fun. Hopefully, for our sake, he'll be back soon."
It wouldn't hurt if Mickelson - who brings his own star power, track record and legion of fans - reeled off some wins in advance of the Masters in April, the year's first major championship. Mickelson finished 19th in San Diego and stands tied for 11th in this weekend's event in Los Angeles.
Tour officials remain hopeful the economy will bounce back and provide a jump-start before Woods returns. Rick George, the tour's executive vice president and chief operating officer, found encouragement in the season's first month, when tournaments reported a 5 percent to 10 percent gain in revenues over last year.
And, at a fundamental level, golf still appeals to corporate sponsors because it brings them to desirable consumers: people with money.
Woods eventually will come back and the fans will surely follow, but it might take time - plenty of time - for golf to recover fully.
"Put it this way: An injured Tiger hurts the tour a little, but this is a different situation than an injured Tiger," three-time major champion Ernie Els said. "I think sponsors are re-evaluating sponsorships in golf and all of sport in general."
Updates Friday on Woods' tribulations centered on reports that he had left the residential Gentle Path sex-addiction program in Hattiesburg, Miss.
According to RadarOnline, Woods' wife, Elin, flew to Hattiesburg earlier this week and Woods is "on his way out of Mississippi to see his two children for the first time in more than a month."
On Thursday, the Herald Sun, an Australian newspaper and Web site, said Woods was "set to stun the world by returning" to golf for a tournament that begins Feb. 17 outside Tucson. The article cited "strengthening whispers."
Woods would have to sign up by this coming Friday, and there have been no reports corroborating the whispers.
By most accounts, Tiger Woods originally planned to play in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, which starts Thursday. That would have created quite a scene: Woods, probably the world's most famous athlete, strolling the picturesque fairways on the Monterey Peninsula for the first time in eight years.
Then, on Nov. 27, he drove his sport utility vehicle into a fire hydrant and a tree outside his Florida home - triggering a salacious sex scandal that includes allegations of numerous extramarital affairs. The story shook the PGA Tour to its core and prompted Woods to take an indefinite leave as he tries to salvage his marriage.
As the tour swings through Northern California, it's clearly not the same without Woods, the world's No. 1 player and the game's defining figure. His absence has added another layer to the challenges facing professional golf, already coping with the effects of the nation's slumping economy.
The efforts to overcome this double whammy are meeting with mixed results. Commissioner Tim Finchem said the tour has extended sponsorship agreements, or brought in new sponsors, for 15 events in the past few months. Prize money is comparable to what it was in 2009 (about $275 million) and Finchem anticipates the tour's charitable giving to rebound from a 12 percent drop last year.
Then again, the tour could not find a title sponsor for last month's Bob Hope Classic in Palm Springs. It reached a last-minute deal with Farmers Insurance to sponsor the tournament at San Diego's Torrey Pines, reportedly for an amount well below normal. Players were not provided courtesy cars, a rare development in their coddled world.
Measuring impact
David Carter, executive director of the USC Sports Business Institute, acknowledged it's difficult to measure the impact of Woods' absence, given the other variables involved, most notably, the economy. But Carter also pointed out golf's struggle to connect with mainstream sports fans when "name-brand" players such as Woods or Phil Mickelson are not in contention on Sundays.As an example, Carter talked about watching the end of the final round from Torrey Pines on Jan. 31. He enjoys golf on television, but he found himself unfamiliar with the players tussling for the lead - from Ben Crane and Michael Sim to Brandt Snedeker and Marc Leishman - and unsuccessfully searching for a compelling story line.
"If I'm an advertiser or potential tournament sponsor, or I'm thinking about picking up a hospitality tent at one of these tournaments and I don't know who's in the field, that makes it a little tougher," Carter said.
The numbers reflect how much Woods seems to influence interest. Tournament officials placed attendance for the week at Torrey Pines - where Woods traditionally makes his season debut - between 120,000 and 130,000, about the same as last year (when Woods didn't play as he recovered from knee surgery).
In 2007 and '08, when Woods won the event then known as the Buick Invitational, attendance for the week was between 150,000 and 160,000.
National television ratings for the San Diego event increased 10 percent from last year, though they came in 48 percent below the ratings in 2008 and 58 percent below the ratings in '07. Or, for a wider-angle view, consider this: Last year, the ratings for events televised by CBS and NBC last year with Woods playing were 93 percent higher than for the events he didn't play.
More telling, maybe, is the vibe at tournaments. Woods brings a rock-star aura to golf's often churchlike setting, not only in sheer numbers of spectators but also in their volume. That was plainly evident during the first two days of the San Diego tournament.
"It's a different atmosphere here without Tiger, isn't it?" said tour pro Charlie Wi, a onetime Cal standout. "It's just quieter. When Tiger's around, it's always chaos. It's fun. Hopefully, for our sake, he'll be back soon."
Players optimistic
Several players insisted the tour will survive just fine without Woods, however long his absence lasts. (One report in Australia said he is "poised" to return at the Match Play Championship later this month, but most observers don't expect him back until March at the earliest.)It wouldn't hurt if Mickelson - who brings his own star power, track record and legion of fans - reeled off some wins in advance of the Masters in April, the year's first major championship. Mickelson finished 19th in San Diego and stands tied for 11th in this weekend's event in Los Angeles.
Tour officials remain hopeful the economy will bounce back and provide a jump-start before Woods returns. Rick George, the tour's executive vice president and chief operating officer, found encouragement in the season's first month, when tournaments reported a 5 percent to 10 percent gain in revenues over last year.
And, at a fundamental level, golf still appeals to corporate sponsors because it brings them to desirable consumers: people with money.
He's still the man
Still, the game largely revolves around one player, given the sheer force of his career achievement - 71 wins, including 14 majors. Woods also projected a pristine image, at least until the early-morning hours on the day after Thanksgiving. Then everything changed, for him and the tour.Woods eventually will come back and the fans will surely follow, but it might take time - plenty of time - for golf to recover fully.
"Put it this way: An injured Tiger hurts the tour a little, but this is a different situation than an injured Tiger," three-time major champion Ernie Els said. "I think sponsors are re-evaluating sponsorships in golf and all of sport in general."
The latest reports
While the golf world faces life without Tiger, the Internet gossip world is enjoying life with Tiger.Updates Friday on Woods' tribulations centered on reports that he had left the residential Gentle Path sex-addiction program in Hattiesburg, Miss.
According to RadarOnline, Woods' wife, Elin, flew to Hattiesburg earlier this week and Woods is "on his way out of Mississippi to see his two children for the first time in more than a month."
On Thursday, the Herald Sun, an Australian newspaper and Web site, said Woods was "set to stun the world by returning" to golf for a tournament that begins Feb. 17 outside Tucson. The article cited "strengthening whispers."
Woods would have to sign up by this coming Friday, and there have been no reports corroborating the whispers.