When this story first broke, it was the talk of the moment. No different than Dave Letterman a couple months back. Now most of us are saying Dave who????

Tiger’s transgressions. So now, we have all Googled transgressions to figure out what it means. And then we put two and two together and realized, he didn’t say transgression. He said transgressions – plural.

If there was one transgression while Tiger has been married over the past five years, that was more than likely forgivable. We Americans forgive virtually anything and everything. In fact, I felt the day after the story broke, had there been only one, everything would have been the same in a couple months. Tiger would be back on the course, winning tournaments. Maybe divorced, maybe not. But it wasn’t going to affect the golf world a whole heck of a lot.

Fast forward a week or so. Now we have the plural of transgression with no end in sight.

Here is the question. What impact does this have on the golf industry? And I am talking about the economic impact. Tiger has made a lot of people very rich since he came on the scene. The total purse for the Masters Tournament in 1997 was $2.7 million. He won that year earning $486k. This year Angel Carbera won earning $1.35 mil. Do you think Angel Cabrera would have had the opportunity to earn that amount of money had it not been for Tiger Woods? I don’t. Tiger’s impact on his fellow golfer’s pocket books has been huge. What happens now? Will Tiger come back strong – mind over matter – like he always has? Or will he fade away and impact his fellow golfers in a different way? Viewership is down when Tiger is not around. Galleries are lighter when Tiger is not around. That means money flowing away from golf.

Mike Greenberg of ESPN used the word “sad” to describe the Tiger Woods situation this morning. I agree. But I can’t help to think that the business revolved around golf is going to be sad too.

Submitted by Rod Snyder