We all know that when Tiger Woods plays any golf tournament that the TV ratings go up, attendance at the event goes up, excitement about the event goes up, and overall his impact is huge every week in the golf world. It always amazes me that no matter what Tiger Woods does the golf media and for that matter every golfer in the world reacts. We either love him or hate him. No matter how you feel about him as a person we all love to see Tiger compete. Tiger Woods missing The Masters to some of us is huge. If you have followed golf at all the last 20 years you have seen Tiger dominate The Masters, you have seen him come close and lose, but you have never seen him quit. There is always a feeling that no matter where he is placed going into the last round that Tiger has a chance to win. You can't help but be disappointed with Tiger not competing at The Masters. Instead of watching every shot and planning our weekend around the event some people will just tune in once in awhile. We will check the scores and see who is leading and eventually on Sunday we will all sit down and watch the back 9 at The Masters.
So...What's the impact of Tiger Woods missing The Masters? The Masters is an event that we all look forward to watching every year. We all dream of our own pilgrimage to Augusta National one day. In the long run the game of of golf and The Masters are bigger than one person...even Tiger Woods. There is so much history and so many great players that we can count on another great week at The Masters.
Let us not worry too much about Tiger Woods. He is a phenomenal athlete and in my opinion has already proven he is the greatest golfer ever. Tiger Woods will recover from this latest physical set back and he will win more golf tournaments. Will he win more majors? Will he pass Jack Nicklaus' records of 18 Majors? Only God knows! So far we have loved watching the highs and lows of Tiger Woods. I for one hope that the best, most charismatic, and influential golfer in history comes back stronger than ever!