Golf is one of the most historic sports on the face of the Earth. Although not everyone enjoys watching it, most of the population enjoys playing it. Each year, golf's greatest players compete in the most renown tournament, "The Masters." Competitors work to qualify for this tournament throughout the year and all of the big names compete in it. Phil Mickelson, Bubba Watson, and Adam Scott are just a few of the most recent champions. Tiger Woods has won five Masters championships. If you asked anyone in the world who knew nothing about golf, if they know who Tiger Woods is, chances are they would say yes.
In the past few years, Tiger has been on a downslope. He hasn't won any big tournaments due to injury and other things of that nature. He has only competed in a hand full of events in the past year as well. In 2014, the Masters Tournament had their lowest television ratings since 1993. This could be because Tiger did not compete. Everyone is a Tiger Woods fan and when he's competing, people are watching. This year's 79th Masters tournament was different than last years. Tiger Woods was a competitor, and didn't do terrible. He made the cut all the way through to the last day and finished tied for 18th with an overall score of five under par. Although it was not his greatest showing in this tournament, he still did pretty well and probably brought a larger viewing audience with him.
I believe that The Masters television ratings will skyrocket this year compared to last. I believe that Tiger Woods is a huge factor in this. Robert Tuchman made a great comparison with Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan. When Jordan retired from basketball in 1995, it was devastating to most basketball fans. In 2001, he signed with the Washington Wizards to make a comeback. The greatest player to ever touch a basketball was back competing. This is the same with Tiger Woods. He announced he was coming back to play in The Masters and all eyes were on him. I believe that he was a great marketing tool for golf, even though it was unintentional, and I believe the television ratings for The Masters was higher than it has been in years.
This year's winner was a 21 year-old named Jordan Spieth. He played an unbelievable tournament and managed to win by 3 strokes. For recaps of this years tournament just click here!
Until next time,
Luke