As Tiger Woods keeps chasing history, he sidesteps the hysteria chasing him.
By BOB HARIG
Published April 4, 2004
The screaming starts before he comes into view, and it emanates from every walk of life. Teens, working professionals, retirees. Men, women, children. White, African-American, Asian. All armed with a napkin, a photo, a program, a pen. All sharpening their elbows to get the best position. All hoping to get his attention.
Tiger Woods finally emerges from the scoring trailer, and the volume increases. They are yelling his name, pleading. They push closer together, held back only by a yellow rope and a few overmatched security personnel. Tiger nears, and the noise gets louder.
It is after the first round of the Players Championship, where Woods has just shot a 75, signed his card, chatted with the media. And now comes the scene that plays out at every golf tournament Woods visits around the world. Prepared, he pulls a Sharpie from his back pocket and starts signing everything thrust in his face.
To accommodate everyone would take hours, so Woods does what he can, thrilling a few lucky souls while disappointing dozens, if not hundreds. The squeals continue, muffling the moans as he is escorted away. Woods makes it to the sanctity of a players-only bridge and is out of harm's way.
Until he attempts to leave the golf course later in the day.
Welcome to a tiny scene from the life of Tiger Woods, golf's best player, one of the world's most recognized faces.
There is virtually no place Woods can go without causing commotion.
"His appeal is so broad, and he's been exposed in so many different ways, I can't even recall a time where he didn't get recognized," said Mark Steinberg, Woods' agent with International Management Group. "What would stand out for me now isn't odd places that he gets recognized. It's places where he doesn't get recognized. And to be honest, I can't think of a single one right now."
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Where did it all begin? When did Tigermania take off? How did Woods become one of the world's most popular people?
Perhaps it started around the time Jack Nicklaus proclaimed Woods would "win more green jackets than Arnold (Palmer) and I combined." That was in 1995, before Woods had won the second of three straight U.S. Amateurs, before he turned professional and won two of his first seven starts.
Nicklaus' reference was to the Masters, where Woods will be the center of attention again this week at Augusta National Golf Club.
If he manages to capture his fourth Masters in eight years, he would tie Palmer and be just two behind Nicklaus' record-setting six. Not bad for a guy who is just 28, who already has eight major championships and 40 PGA Tour titles. Oh yeah, and more than $40-million in career earnings, not to mention the multi-millions in endorsements.
His accomplishments are impressive, but so, too, is the attention Woods has generated. Woods' ethnic background (his father is African-American, his mother is Asian) combined with the amazing length he hits the ball helped set him apart. He sparked interest in golf among minorities and youngsters. His views on social issues such as the all-male membership policy at Augusta are sought. Even his engagement made national headlines.
Woods has been dealing with the hysteria for some time now. It was in full force when he came to the Tampa Bay area in 1996 to play in the JCPenney Classic at Innisbrook. Woods, then 20, had won two PGA Tour events, and tournament director Gerald Goodman recalls a warning he got from PGA Tour official Jon Brendle.
"It's going to be like you have a rock star there," Goodman said. "Those are the words he gave me. "They're coming. And they're coming in droves.' I'll never forget it. And they did. I remember we were not really ready for the crowds that swarmed him. Neither was the tour. Here's a guy who can't wear white pants, because they always get written on."
In 1996, the cumulative purse of the 45 PGA Tour events was $69.1-million. There were nine players who made more than $1-million. Eight years later, purses have nearly quadrupled to $240-million. And last year there were 72 players who topped the $1-million mark.
Much of this can be attributed to Woods, who fuels the money machine through television. Purses largely are funded by corporate sponsors who are required to purchase ad time on the network telecasts. They do so because Woods has helped more people get interested in golf, not just the stereotypical white male.
"What Tiger has done for the game and the impact he's had is not just an impact the weeks he plays," said PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem. "It's an impact across the board. When he generates eyeballs the weeks he plays . . . and a new viewer watches a PGA Tour golfer they've never watched before, some percentage of those viewers are going to like what they see and come back the next week. Much like Michael Jordan impacted the entire NBA whether he was playing or not, Tiger's had that effect."
How Woods fares, however, does impact the numbers for golf telecasts. While he might draw more to the sport, there are a good number of viewers who care only about him. That's why, according to an NBC-TV study, ratings increased 52 percent when Woods went into the final round of a tournament fifth place or better.
The extra attention makes his sponsors happy, too. Golf Digest reported that Woods was paid more than $70-million in endorsement income in 2003 from 10 sponsors, led by Nike, which topped the list with $25-million.
At every tournament, Woods is decked out in Nike apparel from head to toe (his outfits are determined at the beginning of the year for each round of the majors). He also plays the company's driver, irons and ball.
When Woods switched to the Nike Tour Accuracy golf ball in 2000, the company's market share in the ball business jumped from 1 percent to 9 percent, according to Nike's Dean Stoyer. That translates to millions of dollars.
"It helped put us on the map as a company to be reckoned with in golf," Stoyer said.
It didn't hurt Nike that Woods captured the 2000 U.S. Open soon after switching and that he went on to win four consecutive major championships.
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Those who play with Woods get to experience his popularity the hard way. Dozens of photographers might follow along inside the ropes. Crowds swell. And when Woods putts out? Forget it. The fans scurry to the next hole, leaving Woods' poor playing partners to fend for themselves.
Even practice rounds are an adventure. "I played with him before the PGA," said tour player Chris Riley. "Walking from one tee to the next, it's like the Beatles. Flash bulbs going off like crazy. It's incredible. It really is."
But there is a downside. Woods arrives at the course before dawn to play practice rounds, hoping to get nine holes of tranquility. He often finishes before the masses arrive, sometimes angering fans who expect him to be more accessible. Two years ago at the Ryder Cup in England, the British media hammered him for playing a practice round that concluded before the gates opened.
"I don't see how he does it," said PGA Tour veteran Kenny Perry. "I couldn't live under that microscope every week he comes out. They're pushing him away. You can see that. He doesn't play much. He stays away. I call him a ghost. He's never in the locker room. You only see him when it's time to play. He sneaks out early, goes to other courses to practice. That's his world. That's what he has to deal with. I think he does a good job with it, but I think it's very difficult."
Woods plays a limited schedule, the fewest number of tournaments for any top player on the PGA Tour who is not also a PGA European Tour member. Last year, he played in just 18 PGA Tour events. He never has played in more than 21. (For comparison, Nicklaus never played as many as 20 events after 1970.)
"Would I like to play more? I would enjoy playing more, but it takes too much out of me," said Woods, who has made 120 consecutive cuts on the PGA Tour and has posted a whopping 94 top-10s in 149 starts. "From a competition standpoint, it takes a lot of energy. Then you throw into the mix all of the responsibilities that I have, and it starts to wear on you after a while. I have cut down my schedule each year to a number I feel pretty good at, where I can have enough energy to play at a high level every week I tee it up."
Woods can't even get engaged in peace. When he popped the question to Elin Nordegren last November in South Africa, a ranger at the game park where the couple stayed leaked the news.
But Woods is not afraid to go out in public. "He's not a recluse," said his agent, Steinberg. "He will go to dinner. He goes to the grocery store. He goes to the mall. He does all those things. He doesn't have personal shoppers. He does all that stuff on his own. He likes it. It creates kind of a sense of normalcy."
Not much else is normal with Woods, a feature attraction whether it's in Dubai, where last month he played in the Middle East in front of sheiks, or driving around his Orlando neighborhood.
Even at Nike headquarters in Oregon, where a fair share of prominent athletes have passed, Woods can turn heads. He often visits to do product testing and one time was conducting a prearranged interview on a replica tee box from Pebble Beach. Overlooking the tee box is a three-story, all-glass building named for Woods.
"I looked up and every window was packed with people looking down out the window," Stoyer said. "It just made me laugh. It wasn't one of those days where he was mobbed, but people definitely wanted to see Tiger."
