The PGA without Tiger Woods - does it matter?

And so it begins. Now that Tiger Woods has decided to step away from golf while he and his wife resolve the now public issues, advertisers and golfers are running from him. The greatest golfer, arguably ever, is quickly learning who his friends are.

I won't speak about what Tiger did or his wife's reaction. That is a private matter for them both. But I will comment on the reaction this is having. And like dominoes the effect is just triggering more and more reactions.

Gillette is now the first of the major advertisers to step away from Woods. While not quite running, they are going to quickly minimize the ads that feature Tiger. Gillette claims this is their attempt to help Woods minimize his public presence. Which oddly enough sounds more like they are trying to not piss of women that might buy their product because they somehow link it to Woods actions.

So far Nike has remained the most dedicated to Tiger of all the advertisers. Which makes sense as Tiger has done everything they could have hoped for with their golf equipment line. With Woods out of competition, it's hard to know exactly what will happen to future ads in 2010. Still I think there will be something that features Woods and Nike. And I commend that in at least the fact that they acknowledge what was done for them. Plus I hate rats fleeing a sinking ship, before it starts to sink.

In the world of golf there are mixed comments. There are those that wish the Woods family encouragement in their efforts to resolve this issue. There are those that have shared their feelings about similar troubles, like John Daly. These are respectful comments that I think make sense, though the best are those that refuse to speak about a private matter.

Then there are golfers like Colin Montgomerie. His comments that focus on his ability to win now just annoy me.

"I feel that it gives us more opportunity of winning these big events now."

It rings petty, considering that it is an admission that were the best golfer in the world around, he and others like him, could never have a chance. Montgomerie is just not that good.

I can't wait to see how Montgomerie feels when he sees what winning without the presence of Woods means. Inevitably the prize purses in the PGA are going to drop without Woods. The viewership of televised events, and likely the number of events covered, will drop. A Lot. Because no one really cares if Colin Montgomerie wins, but everyone cares if Tiger plays.

The big question to the PGA and professional golf, even advertisers, has to be what will happen if Tiger comes back? What happens if Tiger doesn't come back, or he is incapable of the dominance he has had in the sport? What happens to all the charities and organizations that Woods created and sponsors? Perhaps John Daly summed it up well

" They always say there is no one bigger in golf than the game itself. But Tiger is."

Somehow I think it's going to be quite a while before we see ads like the following again:





And it will be a long time before we see this in golf videos



Sadly I think we have all witnessed the end of the Tiger Woods era. No matter when he comes back, I think his spirit has been broken. He will still win, and he will break records. But the greatest moments of his career will likely be behind him. In a way it's just a shame to know we will never see what he could have been. And we will never see his kind of ability again in our lifetime, of that I am sure.