PGA Tour chief: We'll cope without Tiger Woods

Woods announced on December 11 that he was taking an indefinite break from golf in order to try to rescue his marriage following revelations of numerous extra-marital affairs.

As speculation continues as to Woods' whereabouts and a possible date for him to return, Finchem yesterday predicted a successful return to the game but said that until then it would do just fine without him.

"There's a mis-perception about our business model," Finchem said as he announced a new event to his tour, the McGladrey Classic, which will debut in October.

"People think because Tiger spikes ratings, which he does, and spikes interest, which he certainly does, that if he's not playing it just doesn't work.

"I've actually been answering this question not since November but really for the last 13 years (when Woods turned professional) because we've averaged about 47 tournaments per year on the PGA Tour and in those years Tiger's averaged playing about 17.

"That leaves 30 events and those events have grown in the last 13 years exponentially and actually grown at a higher percentage basis than the events that Tiger basically plays in.

"Why is that? Because we've a huge fan base, 86 million Americans have played the game or are playing the game; 132-135 million people tuned in to our telecasts last year.

"We average a TV audience in any given week without Tiger, 24-26 million viewers, so (sponsors) look at that and they see the value in that, that we index higher in upper income (viewers) and decision makers, opinion leaders, than any other sport.

"They see value in the size and quality of the audience... that a PGA Tour event provides.

"So sponsorship is, generally speaking over the last 13 years, 100 per cent at full value and price point.

"Then the communities we play in benefit significantly from an economic development standpoint and a charity standpoint.

"In fact the five biggest charity generators on the PGA Tour over the last five years have all been tournaments where Tiger didn't play.

"So there's real value week to week."
Finchem was quick to add that he would much prefer to see Woods back on the tour.

"That's not to diminish the fall-off from Tiger not playing," he added. "You want the number one player not just in the sport but arguably in the world, when he's competitive, to play and when he does it lifts all boats.

"It creates more interest, more focus, but week in, week out the PGA Tour provides value.

"So that's the real world. We just had Tiger out for eight months in 2008 and had our all-time record charity year at USD105 million, so everybody just needs to keep it in balance.

"We want our number one player back, I think he's going to be huge when he comes back but he's doing the right thing in dealing with his issues, as he said he wanted to.

"In the meantime, we're moving forward and we're going to have a great year."