Fewer sponsors without Woods

The decision by the PGA Tour to drop the International tournament from its schedule has served to underscore how much of an impact Tiger Woods can have on the health of a golf event.

While tournaments featuring Woods have remained some of the most viable on tour, the remaining events routinely spend their offseason shuffling through potential title sponsors and available tour dates.

Jack Vickers, founder of the International and Castle Pines golf club in Denver, directly blamed Tiger Woods’ absence for the inability to land a top-tier title sponsor.

“For 21 years, we marketed this tournament and had sponsors lined up at the front door,” Vickers said. “But all of a sudden we’re in a new era. It’s been influenced by one outstanding, unbelievable player in Tiger Woods. When he’s playing, the ratings are great. When he’s not, the ratings aren’t so hot.”

Woods routinely plays far fewer events on tour than most players, rarely playing on back-to-back weeks or in the weeks just prior to and after a major.

Ratings studies show that events featuring Woods generally lure twice as many television viewers than those without him. The addition of golfers like Phil Mickelson, Vijay Singh and Ernie Els can boost ratings even further.

“When we talk to potential sponsors, they call their advertising people and the next thing we know we are talking about ratings, and that makes it tough,” Vickers said.

PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem downplayed the role that Woods’ absence has played, insisting that the demise of the International has as much to do with the event taking place during Independence Day weekend.

“We had a strong price point. We had declining ratings the last three or four years. We had questions about the date and the combination is what worked against us,” Finchem said. “It wasn’t any one thing.”

Nevertheless, the International is not the first Tiger-less tournament to be dropped from the PGA Tour this year, as the tour reshuffled things to ensure the best events for its new FedEx Cup schedule. An annual tournament in Western Pennsylvania was canceled after 84 Lumber backed out of its usual title sponsorship of the event, and the B.C. Open and Tuscon Open also were dropped.

The tour’s stop in Hartford, Conn., was in jeopardy after losing title sponsor Buick last year but was saved when St. Paul Traveler’s agreed to sponsor the event if it moved to the June date once occupied by the 84 Lumber Classic.

Meanwhile, the District lost its annual PGA Tour event this year when Booz Allen Hamilton pulled out as title sponsor, citing the tour’s decision to move the tournament to October — after the new FedEx Cup events.

Finchem told the Associated Press yesterday that in a search for cities to replace the International, D.C. remained one of four options along with Minneapolis, Portland, Ore., and one city he would not name.

“When we get done and we’re ready to prioritize, if all is about equal and Washington was one of them, we would probably prioritize Washington because we know it’s a great time with the Fourth of July … and it would be nice to have members of Congress involved,” Finchem said.

Stephen Pruitt, a professor of business economics and finance at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, said a sponsorship agreement with the PGA Tour can still be more valuable than a sponsorship with any other sports league. But, he said his most recent research suggests that being a title sponsor for a sporting event, including a golf tournament, rarely is worth it because of the relatively high cost.

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