Tiger Woods Saves the PGA Tour

Tiger Woods saved the PGA Tour from other emergent golf leagues hoping to pry the best players away from the world’s top Tour.

Of all the things Tiger Woods addressed at his news conference this week, his comments on the PGA Tour might have the most profound impact on the future of golf.

Naturally, there were lots of probing questions about his health. He was as frank as he’s ever been about his age, physical condition, his current recovery status, and his family.

None of this was particularly new information for anyone following along since his accident.

Nor was it a surprise that Tiger is ahead of schedule, hitting balls, working out, and generally doing what Tiger has always done – beat the odds.

However, Woods was quick to tamp down thoughts of rejoining the Tour full-time.

“I don’t foresee this leg ever being what it used to be, and I’ll never have my back to what it used to be, and the clock’s ticking.”

“I’m getting older, I’m not getting any younger. All that combined means that a full schedule and a full practice schedule and the recovery that it would take to do that, no, I don’t have any desire to do that.”

Of course this leaves the door open for still playing an event here and there. I suspect he’d like to walk the fairways of Augusta at least one more time.

The one question that caught my attention was one asked about the Greg Norman-led upstart golf league promising huge purses. Tiger’s response was unequivocal and might be the most interesting and powerful thing he said.

“I have decided that I’m supporting the PGA Tour. That’s where my legacy is.”

You can almost hear the wind being sucked out of the sails of Norman’s latest yacht purchase.

Since Tiger burst on the scene 25 years ago, he’s always been very clear about his goal – beat Jack’s record of 18 Major victories and become the undisputed greatest golfer in history.

Everything Tiger has done since childhood has been in pursuit of that goal.

He won’t reach the 18 Majors record, but reasonable people will forever argue about whether Jack or Tiger is the greatest. There are no other names that deserve entry into that conversation.

Tiger has now confirmed that if you ever want to be talked about in the same breath as the two greatest players to ever play, you’ll have to do it on the PGA Tour.

For the players that desire entry into the pantheon of great players – guys like Speith, Thomas, Koepka, Johnson – that’s a pretty strong incentive to stay with the PGA Tour.

Every sport has money-grabbers. Golf is no exception. There will be well-known PGA Tour players that take a flyer on the new league. I suspect if one of these events happens during a down week on Tour, we could see some big names take a shot at a payday.

Witness the HSBC event in Abu Dhabi. Human Rights abuses don’t prevent some big names from accepting a hefty appearance fee to show up in Saudi Arabia.

But a legacy in the game is a different animal from a flush bank account.

You can play on Norman’s Tour. You can earn more money than anyone on the PGA Tour. But you will never be discussed among the greats. Tiger just made sure of that.

The Tin Foil hatter in me wonders if the question was a plant to get that quote out there based on previous agreements between the PGA and Tiger.

If it was planned, it was a brilliant PR move by the PGA. If it wasn’t, Tiger just gave the PGA the biggest Christmas present they’ll ever receive.