Nobody's Mentioned Tiger

[gezando]

Quotes from Newsletter written by Tiger 4/15

April 15, 2005



By Tiger Woods

By the time you read this, I'll be on my boat relaxing with my wife, Elin, after my victory at the Masters. I can't say winning a fourth green jacket was the most satisfying of my nine major championships, but it definitely felt good. Especially after all the things I have been through in the last year.

I must congratulate Chris for his great play. Even when I went ahead by four strokes, I knew he wouldn't back off and would make me earn it, and that's exactly what he did. They always say the Masters doesn't start until the back nine on Sunday and they were right. I was fortunate to win.

At least we put on a good show. I understand the television ratings were pretty high. Someone told me it was the third-most watched telecast of all-time and that something like 35 million viewers tuned in. That's pretty cool.

Afterward, I met with the press, then went to a dinner at the clubhouse that they always give for the winner. I sat next to tournament chairman Hootie Johnson and gave a little speech. It was great to have Elin and my mom there, but I wish my dad could have made it. He attended the previous three times I won, and I couldn't wait to get back to the house he was staying at to celebrate with him.

Right after dinner, I did interviews with five different national media outlets including ESPN, Fox Sports and the Golf Channel. When I finally saw pop it was about 10 p.m., and I gave him a big hug. He has always been there for me and it was nice to share the moment. He still isn't feeling well, but made the effort to come to Augusta and that meant the world to me. On the course, he was with me every step of the way. Hopefully watching me win will give him a little extra fight.

Truthfully, I wasn't feeling good all weekend. My allergies were killing me; I even wore sunglasses on the driving range to keep the pollen out of my eyes, which is something I never do. On Saturday, I came down with a cold and temperature and it stayed with me through the end of the tournament. I finally shook the fever on Tuesday.

That's all for now. I'm going to get away from golf for a couple weeks and recharge my batteries. Thanks for all your support and well-wishes, and talk to you soon.

 

[Mathman]

Interesting statistics about the television viewership. It would have been even higher if they had broadcast the end of the third round on Sunday morning, when Tiger charged into the lead with a string of seven consecutive birdies.

Mathman

 

[cianni]

Tiger

I didnt forget Tiger he's my man. Just love the kid. I will watch Golf when hes playing. Great to see him win.

 

[hockeyfan228]

I'll be starting my 4th season of golf this year. Unless you play golf, you'll never watch golf. I used to think it was the most boring thing to watch on TV and now I find it fascinating.

Except for some misguided lessons when I was ten, and an ever more misguided attempt at a "morale" event at work, I've never played golf, and I've been watching it on TV since I was a kid. I love golf, particularly when the announcers "whisper," and I'm thrilled that Woods won his 4th Masters and 9th Major. My only regret is that it wasn't Els, my other co-favorite, fighting for the title. Great athletes, both of them.

 

[Mathman]

There was an interesting article in today's paper about the financial aspects of the tournament. That shot of the ball hanging on the lip of the cup at the 16th, wagging it's Nike swoosh in our face before dropping in for a tournament saving birdie -- that's worth the $100,000,000 than Nike signed Tiger for in 2000 (his second five-year contract). Nike is coming out with a new version of that ball, costing $54 each, which they expect to sell millions and millions of.

Unfortunately for Nike, the footage is owned by the Augusta golf course, which does everything in its power to avoid commercialization of the Masters. They only allow four minutes of advertising per hour in the TV coverage, for instance. So Nike might have to recreate the shot for advertising purposes,rather than use the actual footage.

Buick (Tiger's other major sponsor) and Ford (sponsor of Phil Mickleson) had a deal where they jointly reserved a big full-page ad in U.S.A Today. If Tiger won the tournatment, Buick would get the spot, and if Mickleson won, it would be a big Ford ad congratulating Phil.

The bad news: although more people are watching golf on TV than ever before, not so many are playing it. In anticipation of a "Tiger boom," especially of women and children taking up the sport, more than 100 new golf courses were built in Michigan over the last decade. Now the sport is contracting and most of the courses are losing money.

I don't know whther there is any message there for figure skating. But it would sure help the sport if more people skated recreationally, especially kids.

Mathman

 

[heyang]

Ok - now I know 3 people who don't play golf, but do watch it. I'll amend my comments to say that most people who don't play golf won't watch.

 

[Mathman]

But there are a whole lot of people who either do play golf, or have played in the past, or who dabble a little once in a while. One thing that contributes to golf's popularity is that you can play at any age, sort of, from kids up to 80 year-olds.

Another thing about it, IMHO, is that spectators at home can "play along" in the sense of imagining themselves to be out there. Millions of duffers once in their lives have made a great shot. So when they see Tiger make a great shot they think, "I can do that!" Or at least, "I did that on my second shot at the 15th hole once in 1977."

Unlike figure skating, where the average person could no more do a triple Lutz than fly.

MM