In the Rough

The absence of Tiger Woods since his wrist injury has shown a drop in TV listings for the British Open at Royal Birkdale, WGC Bridgestone Invitational and PGA Championship (USPGA) at Oakland Hills.

Since woods has been missing through injury there has been 3 big golf tournaments (2 majors and the World Golf Championship). During 2007 Tiger Woods won the World Golf Championship and USPGA tournaments.

The World Golf Championships in 2008 attracted 34% less viewers than in 2007 when Woods shot a brilliant final round 65 to win the tournament by 8 shots. For the USPGA viewers were down 50% on the 2007 year. For the British Open in 2007 it was Padraig Harrington and Sergio Garcia battling it out on the final day with Harrington eventually winning. The British Open stats again show a sharp decline with a third of people switching off compared to the 2007 results.

Over the last couple of years golf audiences have been dropping but could Tiger Woods be really affecting the viewing numbers out there?

This entry was posted on Friday, August 22nd, 2008 at 2:03 pm and is filed under Golf Debate. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.