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1. More perspective on the financial impact of Tiger’s win
ESPN’s Tom VanHaaren collected some interesting (and wide-ranging) data points related to the financial impact of Tiger Woods’ Masters win
- “Brian Kim is the general manager at GumGum Sports, a company that works with brands and companies to quantify that exact value through use of computer vision technology. The company is able to measure ad equivalency by determining how long brands are showing up in footage clips across television and a large ecosystem on social media and equating that number to actual dollars.”
- “Attention isn’t just on Tiger in the wake of his Masters’ win. The impact is on everything, including what’s in his bag. Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images
- “Although GumGum hasn’t yet analyzed this year’s Masters numbers for its brands, Kim said the early numbers are staggering. He estimates the effect of Tiger winning to be north of $550 million at the bare minimum, a $100 million increase over last year’s victory by Patrick Reed, which was tracked by GumGum in 2018.”
- “And this from Bridgestone prez Dan Murphy…”We’re seeing, across the board, interest in stocking up on Tiger Woods’ golf ball…So we’re pretty excited to see the order bank starting to increase. I’d say for the specific models that [Woods] plays, we’re looking at 20 to 30 percent we can bump up the sales on that product.”
Wisely, Bridgestone is launching a commemorative edition of the Tour B XS with Woods’ image on the box cover and “thank you for letting us be part of your 15th major” printed on the bottom. A source at the company told me that ALL Bridgestone Tour B XS balls are currently sold old.
2. A refresher on Ben Hogan’s comeback
Geoff Shackelford, rightly, quotes Tiger Woods at the 2018 Masters and reminds us that when we call Woods’ comeback the greatest ever in golf, we do a disservice to the legacy of one William Ben Hogan.
- Woods: “I think that one of the greatest comebacks in all of sport is the gentleman who won here, Mr Ben Hogan. I mean, he got hit by a bus and came back and won major championships,” he said.
- “The pain he had to endure, the things he had to do just to play and just how hard it was for him to walk, and he ended up walking 36 holes (in one day) and winning a US Open.”
- “There are few similarities between the two comebacks and yet they are equally impressive given that Hogan was near death and Tiger had appeared to lose all confidence in his game for longer period than any all-time great. Only maybe Seabiscuit appeared to lose it all before regaining elite form.”
- “Still, Hogan has to get the nod for having played no role in his need to stage a comeback in the first place. Tiger, by his own admission, inflicted some of his pain.”
3. Masters ticket scheme
Digest’s Stephen Hennessey with the story…
- “Charges of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and aggravated identity theft were brought onto Stephen Michael Freeman, of Katy, Texas. His parents, Steven Lee Freeman and Diane Freeman, in addition to sister, Christine Oliverson, were charged with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.”
- “Names from a bulk mailing list were used by the defendants to create fake accounts within the Masters ticket lottery, according to court documents. The defendants created fake email addresses for these individuals, and had they won badges for the Masters-one of the most prized tickets in all of sports-they would’ve used false identities and contacted ticket officials to send the tickets to a different address.”
4. Bullish or bearish on Zurich Classic format?
A pair of Golf Digest staffers discuss the merits of the Zurich Classic’s team format.
- Cut It, says Christopher Powers…”Without match play being brought into the equation, the Zurich Classic team format loses much of its appeal. The fun of the Ryder Cup (and yes, even the Presidents Cup) is the idea of pitting two two-man teams against one another, with every match mattering and both teams in full-attack mode. Take that away and I’m not so sure watching Anders Alberston and Seth Reeves play alternate shot together in the second round is all that exciting.”
- Joel Beall says, “Keep It, But…Even in this new condensed version of the tour schedule, it’s one that remains static, and at times, stale. With a 46-tournament calendar, there are going to be certain rhythms in the year, and in the shadow of post-Masters glow and PGA Championship lead-up, this is a period mostly of indifference to the casual fan. We should be thankful that the Zurich Classic, if only in spirit, attempts to break this ennui.”
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19th Hole2 weeks ago
19th Hole2 weeks ago
