Woods Return Has Led To A ‘Tremendous & Significant’ Impact Says Tour Chief

Atlanta, GA ….

PGA Tour Commissioner, Jay Monahan insists the return to full-time competition of a fully-fit Tiger Woods has had a ‘tremendous and significant’ impact both on and off the golf course.

Woods returns to the Tour at this week’s season-ending Tour Championship and crowning of the FedEx Cup champion at the historic East Lake club in suburban Atlanta.

While the Tour Championship was first staged in 1987, the week marks the 12th staging of the FedEx Cup ‘Play-Offs’ finale with Woods having won the title in 2007 and 2009.

However, is the first time Woods has qualified for the 30-only player field since a T22nd finish in 2013.

Woods is contesting his 18th Tour event of 2018 with his best finishes being second in both the Valspar Championship and the PGA Championship while he’s had four other top-10s.

And while Monahan speaks of the impact of having Woods back inside the ropes, the 47-year old, who was a former Chief Marketing Officer at the Tour before becoming Commissioner in January 2017, singles out the enormous increase in TV ratings when Woods is competing.

Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan and Tiger Woods

“To have a fully-fit Tiger Woods back on the PGA Tour has been tremendous and significant”, said Monahan.

“The best way to talk about that is that Tiger’s return has coincided with the storyline of great, young, international and veteran players emerging in spectacular fashion the last couple of years.

“Tiger comes back and gets right into the competitive mix quickly, and probably a lot faster than everybody thought but no one was willing to admit.

“He then puts himself in the mix and you have this question of how have these guys who we have been watching the last few years been able to perform at an extraordinary level and how are they going to compete with Tiger now back in the mix and how is Tiger going to compete against them.

“It’s hard to quantify but one thing I look at and if you are Paul Casey and you win the Valspar Championship and Tiger Woods finishes runner-up, and the Valspar Championship enjoyed a TV rating of 3.2 and then you go to a rating of 5.1 then that is a lot more people seeing Paul Casey and hearing his story and the other players in the mix.

PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan (left) and Andy Pazder, Chief Tournament and Competitions Officer with the Tour at this morning’s announcement.

“Also, if you are Brooks Koepka and you win back-to-back U.S. Open’s and then win the PGA Championship with Tiger in the mix with a TV rating that Sunday in St. Louis of a 5.4 then that is a 75% increase in the ratings so that is more people seeing Brooks, hearing Brooks and learning about Brooks talent.

“So, if people ask me if that is a good or a bad thing my answer is that Tiger’s return has been so positive as you only have to witness the fan reaction at the tournaments Tiger has elected to play this year.

“As well, the energy amongst all the players on the Tour, along with the desire to beat each other now that Tiger is back playing full-time, is as high as it has ever been.”

Monahan was speaking at the confirmation of major changes to the 2018/19 PGA Tour schedule with the Play-Off Series to be reduce from four to three events and with a new final event scoring system.

The will be a 50% increase in prize-money for the winner to receive $15m as FedEx Cup champion while the FedEx Cup bonus pool is being increased from $25m to $60m.

Also, there will be a new $10 Wyndham Rewards Top-10 with the leading 10 money winners up to an including the Wyndham Championship, and the final event of the regular season, to split $10 with a leader to receive $2m, runner-up $1.5m and 10th place to receive $500,000.

“As a result of these changes, you’ll see a comprehensive player earnings jump to over $500m in 2019, a jump of 12%, and something we are very proud of,” said Monahan.

“Of course, the players have to go out and earn it.

“The No. 1 player in the FedEx Cuyp next year will probably earn roughly $27, $27 1/2m.  The top-10 players will average a little north of $12m, and the top-50 around $5 1/2m.

“So there is lots on the line; every single shot in the FedEx Cup season every week.”



Comments are closed.