Tiger is the Needle, Like it or Not

This contains my original posting on ESPN's message board for the article about how this year's Masters ratings were the lowest in 10 years....

The PGA has done their best to put up certain younger players on a pedestal in hopes of retaining the TIger-boomers. It just hasn't worked. First it was Anthony Kim, then it was Camillo Villegas, then it was Rory now its Speith. Who knows who the next flavor of the year be in a few years. Whether or not Speith wins a major or not, it will NOT move the needle. It will make for great conversation in a bar amongst friends, but it wont bring any more viewers. PGA is fearful of the day Tiger decides not to play anymore. Its great for the game to have these younger players, we will root for them. But we wont watch full 18 hole coverage of it. It just isn't the same. The PGA cant really say anything about it because they have to try to reel in as much revenue as possible. I know that they have to work extra hard to come up with $$$ when Tiger isn't competing.

Lets also face another fact, the casual fan will not sit through 3 hours of coverage like a diehard golf fan. Those are the fans they are trying to hook, but it works against them in a way, they would rather be playing golf on a Saturday or Sunday than home watching it.

Its not that is anything personal against Speith, Rory, etc. They seem like nice kids. But they are not as polarizing as Tiger. That is just a fact. That is not to say they are not good golfers or will never win multiple majors, they probably will. But they will NEVER have the effect that Tiger had, and to think any other way at this point is naive due to the lack of viewers during the worlds most popular major.

The PGA's worst nightmare would be having the world catch up to Tiger and other American golfers. You can make the argument that it has. Not only that, the personalities of some of the players are rather bland and boring. The PGA tried to push (wrestling term) Jason Dufner and the "Dufnering", but it is as boring to watch him play as it is to watch others sit on the ground. Just doesnt work. Im not really bashing the PGA, its just reality. The golf culture of "acting cool" and showing no emotion is not what the public wants. Because being Tiger is cool and is "in" because he is "the needle".

What the PGA needs to do, is to not stray too far from status quo in an effort to keep the Tiger-boomers. There is nothing worse than a contrived orchestration of riff raff. It would just seem weird to see Jason Dufner yell and scream at a drive like Boo Weekley would do. Or see Steve Stricker wearing Loud Mouth apparel. They need to get lucky, again.