Bobby Jones and Arnold
Palmer and other trailblazers
had not.
Two decades later, the
verdict is largely in on what he
influenced beyond the record
book. It was often said Arnold
Palmer’s contemporaries
should thank him every night
for how he energised the sport
and boosted their bank
balances during the 1960s.
This is all the more so for
Woods’ peers and those who
have followed. The numbers
are as staggering as some of
the shots he has played. In
1996, when Tiger turned pro,
nine PGA Tour members made
more than $1 million in prize
money, and players averaged
$181,817. Last season, 102
players exceeded $1 million
with average annual earnings
of nearly $1.3 million.
Woods’ power, athleticism,
love of the pressure-packed
moment and competitive
ferocity, in concert with the fact
he looked different
from most of the players he
regularly beat, transformed the
perception of golf, as if an
acoustic performer became a
stadium rocker. A lot of kids –
and their parents – wanted to
become part of this show, from
immersion in junior tournament
play to the rigorous workouts
that were instrumental during
Tiger’s prime and have become
a given for most elite golfers.
As Stephen Hamblin of the
American Junior Golf
Association told Golf Channel
in 2015, “Tiger almost changed
the game from having no
athletes out here to you need
to be an athlete to be one of
the best.”It is arguable that a
generation after Tiger’s arrival,
the sport would not be
populated with so much
skilled, young talent – a record
28 victories by 19 golfers in
their 20s during the 2016-17
PGA Tour season led by Justin
Thomas’ five titles – if he
hadn’t come along when he
did. The youth movement has
been more extreme on the
LPGA Tour, where the average
age of winners was only 23 in
2016, many of its current stars
having been children when
Woods was on his dominant
run in the early 2000s.
In America, the number of
junior golfers between ages 6
and 17 is about the same as it
was when Tiger burst onto the
scene, the Great Recession
having negated gains that
occurred when he was must-see TV. His biggest impact on
young people may be The First
Tee, a youth character
development program that got
off the ground late in that
seismic year of 1997, and the
Tiger Woods Foundation,
which has nurtured the
academic and career pursuits
of children in several cities.
The rise of golfers from
around the globe, particularly
Asia, coincides with Tiger’s
career. But a wave of African
American tour players hasn’t
yet materialised. If Woods is
back on the circuit in 2018,
he’ll join Harold Varner III, only
the second black golfer to have
a PGA Tour card after Woods
turned pro and Jim Thorpe
moved on to the senior tour at
about the same time. That a
dozen or so black Americans
played the PGA Tour during the
1970s is shocking at first
glance, but economic barriers
have proven more stubborn
than the game’s former racial
walls. And golf will never be for
everybody. Regardless of
ethnicity, some athletes will
gravitate to sports that, despite
a big Woods-fueled increase in
golf purses, still offer better
financial opportunity, including
guaranteed contracts.
It is likely true that Tiger’s
accomplishments inside the
ropes will dwarf whatever he
does beyond the fairways he
ruled so thoroughly. Some
might have wanted more, but
he wanted to be a golfer, and
his life wasn’t as neat as his
scorecards. Still, he did change
the game. If anyone in any
discipline wants to see
excellence, sit down for a few
days with his greatest hits.
Then try to do your thing as
well as he did his.
© ROLEX CHRIS TURVEYGOLF ASIAGOLF ASIA 5555