What Do You Think Tiger Is Worth?

On Tuesday Tiger had this to say about his design studies:

As far as my course design, it's something I've always wanted to do and I wanted to make sure that I played around the world before I ever got into course design. I wanted to see what basically every continent has to offer and basically observe and play and experience those different philosophies that all of the different architects have had in each region, and I'm lucky enough to have done that. I just felt it was time for me to try something different, something creative and something that will challenge me in a different way. Certainly something I've really, really been looking forward to.

Now, keeping in mind that the big name players get somewhere in the neighborhood of $2-2.5 million for a "signature" design (and the right to market the living daylights out of their name and er, gulp, "lifestyle"), I'm wondering what you think Tiger's design fee should be? (This is assuming a project that includes some real estate component.) 

Tiger To Start Investing (!?) And Designing In China

At least according to Paul Tharp in the New York Post...

Golf megastar Tiger Woods is going to invest some of his $200 million fortune in building golf courses - mostly for China's new country club set.

The sports world's highest paid player yesterday said he's launching Tiger Woods Design to build high-end links across the globe.

"I've had the luxury of playing golf around the world," said Woods. "I'd like to share my experiences and the lessons I've learned, and hopefully create some amazing, fun courses."

Woods is expected to follow in the footsteps of golf's best-known course builders - Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer - and tackle projects in China for his first three or four layouts.

"China says it needs 2,000 golf courses in the next several years, and Nicklaus and Palmer are already there working on it," said Michael E. Gleason, a leading golf architect and consultant.

"Tiger's following them because that's where the demand is. It's booming. His name is going to draw a lot of investors - and he can name his own price."

It takes upwards of $50 million to open a 36-hole golf course, depending on the location. Gleason is currently completing a new course on a mountaintop outside Seoul Korea for $36 million.

"China isn't going to give up agricultural land, and will probably be building them on mountaintops or even remediated brown fields," Gleason said.

A Letter To Tiger...

Tiger,

Yesterday's announcement of Tiger Woods Design was not--how I can I put this as a prospective design partner--very impressive. Oh yeah, I'm nominating myself to be your associate. All I ask in return is 1% of your design fee based on the International and North American rates that your agent has been giving out.

And speaking of the big guys taking 10%...

I wouldn't have announced this one day after the Tour Championship that you skipped to save your energy for the $6 million in appearance fees you'll be hauling in over the next few weeks. Someone might get the wrong impression that you are in this design thing or this playing golf thing to accumulate more money than you'll ever need. You and I know otherwise. And I know you are probably about to announce your first course in that human rights hotbed China, but I still think another week might have bought just a little more memory loss from the golfing public. That's why you let them take that big 10%...and I could have offered this advice for just 1%!

Also, I think the 10% folks needed to have the web site up and running today when the press release went out. Minor detail, I know. And when this scribbler called the Tiger Woods Design office to ask a few quesions, it would have been nice to get a real person instead of a low grade voice mail message. If we were partners, they could have called here to my suite in the Home of the Homeless and I would have gladly answered questions. Well, until it hit 85 at around 11:15 a.m., an emergency situation that forces me to work out of my western office at 1 Pacific Coast Highway.

Anyway, I'm still waiting for my return call from the TWD offices. I was calling on behalf of a pretty big magazine, but so far, no luck. Not a good sign.

The last thing has to do with the nuts and bolts of this design stuff we both love. 

Your press release said that, "Every project will incorporate its chairman's highest standards and passion for golf."

Great, though I'd lose the chairman thing. I know the corporate people eat that stuff up, but they don't usually build golf courses.

Also, this is a little strange:

Having played on almost every continent, TWD plans to share Tiger's varied experiences with every skill level of golfer. For Tiger, this important goal embodies what he really loves about the sport. Whether it's bringing a traditional American design to Europe; or a links course to America  or Australian designs to China, TW Design knows the possibilities are endless.

So you want to import unique environments to create really cool courses. I hear ya there.

But the very next line in the press release material should not be this:

The belief in the importance of preserving the existing natural environment is another of TW  Design's core values.

See, you can't quite do the whole importing links to America and sandbelt to China, and then say you are preserving the natural environment.

I know, I'm quibbling again. But hey, just trying to show you how I'd earn my 1%.

This I liked:

To help us achieve this goal, we plan to utilize experts from around the  world who are dedicated to environmental preservation. As TW Design continues to grow, so will our roster of experts.

Remember, just 1%, that's all I charge. Shoot, for the Internationals gigs, I'll take .5%...I can still pull in, oh I better not say. I'll even figure out a way to design water hazards that Stevie can drop 9-irons into without losing them. Now, designing for the Nikons he chucks might be a little tougher, but we can work on that.

Yours in design,
Geoff

Rees On Tiger

Mark Soltau went right to the top for a reaction to Tiger's entry into the design world:

"I think he'll do quite well," said noted golf course architect Rees Jones. "He's the biggest name in golf, and he'll command a big fee.

Wow, the insights you glean from those Jones boys.

"It's good for the interest of the game. He's going to have to go through a little bit of a learning curve to get his ideas on the ground. It's a craft; you learn by doing it.

"My only advice would be to limit himself to good projects, clients and sites. Concentrate on the game while he's still the best."

Translation: don't you even think of redoing one of my courses that needs redoing. 

Tiger Hangs Out Design Shingle...

...and whatever you think his fee is, there's a good chance you need to multiply it by 8.

I can honestly say that Tiger's career has been handled so beautifully, but at least to the design world, this could have been handled more tastefully... 

TIGER WOODS LAUNCHES GOLF COURSE DESIGN FIRM

Woods to Apply His Unique Golf Experiences to Course Design

Windermere, Fla. - Tiger Woods is taking a swing at a new venture in the golf industry - course design. Woods announced today the creation of Tiger Woods Design, a golf course design company that plans to embark upon projects around the world.

"My goal is to provide a unique collection of amazing courses all over the world that represent what I love about golf," Tiger Woods Design Chairman Tiger Woods said. "I'm very excited to announce the formation of this company and get to work on finding the right projects for my first few courses."

The company's philosophy is to further elevate the standards of golf course design and create enjoyable, challenging courses worldwide. At the heart of this vision is Woods' desire to apply his first-hand knowledge and personal experience to the design of each golf course.

"I've had the luxury of playing golf around the world, and I've spent a lot of time evaluating how to play all kinds of courses," Woods said. "I'd like to share my experience and the lessons I've learned and hopefully create some amazing, fun courses."

Woods, who has played golf on almost every continent in more than 20 countries, plans for Tiger Woods Design to encompass a global strategy that appeals to all skill levels. The organization will also seek unique properties for course development, while taking care to preserve the natural habitat of each location. 

"There are golfers everywhere that may never get a chance to play a links course in Scotland, a tree-lined course in America or the sand belts of Australia," Woods added. "Hopefully I can bring some of those elements into their backyards."

Woods decided to move forward with forming Tiger Woods Design in 2005 as he approached his 10th year playing professional golf on the PGA TOUR.

"I wanted to wait until I felt I had enough golf experience to launch Tiger Woods Design," Woods said. "I've been working very hard over the last decade to get a feel for all kinds of courses and really understand the best elements of design. Now, I feel I've logged enough time and learned enough lessons to start this venture."

Before moving forward with Tiger Woods Design, Woods sought the advice of friends and experts in the industry.

"I've spent a lot of time talking with experts in this field and gathering as much information as possible about what a great course should be," Woods said. "Friends like Jack Nicklaus and Tom Fazio have been a tremendous help by sharing their support and advice on this new venture. I hope I can bring as much to this industry as they have over the years."

And the website doesn't work yet...

Tiger Woods Design is currently reviewing projects and bids for theircourse design services. Visit  www.tigerwoodsdesign.com for upcoming announcements, more informationand instructions on submitting a proposal.

Online submissions?

Update on 2006-11-07 03:26 by Geoff

Looks like the site was finally up and running in the late afternoon...it doesn't have much in the way of details.

"If you qualify for an event like this and skip it, there should be some type of sanction."

John Hawkins has a little more from Tom Pernice and another interesting anonymous quote from the fun, jovial, all-aroiund good times Tour Championship:

“I think it’s a disgrace,” he replied. “It’s a slap in the face to [presenting sponsor] Coca-Cola and the tour. He would not make the money he makes if it wasn’t for the PGA Tour. At some point there is a credibility factor as to what’s inside you as a person. There is a responsibility and an obligation to the people who helped make you who you are.”

Well, let's not overstate Coca-Cola's role in Tiger's development, Tom.

To say that Pernice stands alone in objecting to Woods’ absence would not be accurate. Two other players have privately expressed disappointment that Tiger chose not to play in the season-finale, one of whom said, “They [tour officials] are so afraid of these guys [top-level players]. If you blow off the pro-am at a regular event, you’re not allowed to play in the tournament. If you qualify for an event like this and skip it, there should be some type of sanction. Maybe you should get a month [suspension] or something.”

Different Takes On Star Absences

From Jeff Rude's Golfweek.com column defending Tiger...

The opinionated Arron Oberholser, a TC newcomer, joined some press pundits in impaling America's two big shots for their absence. "I think the biggest players have a responsibility to the Tour to play in these," said perhaps the only young Republican from San Francisco. "Tiger might not want to hear that and Phil might not want to hear that, but they don't write my paycheck, so I don't care. I think it's about having a responsibility to your place in the game."

And from Geoff Ogilvy...

"The Tour is so good because of people like Tiger and Phil, so you can't say that Tiger and Phil are hurting the Tour by not (playing here)," the Australian said. "Where would the Tour be without Tiger and Phil? We'd be playing for $2.5 million a week, we'd have 20 tournaments, not one would be watching it on TV. We'd be back where we were 15 years ago.

Owen On Tiger

David Owen pens a fascinating Tiger Woods profile for The Guardian. It reads more like a New Yorker piece and far much more interesting than his Tiger at 10 Year story for the August Golf Digest,.

Soak it up, this is all the Tiger you're going to get this week! 

Woods Wraps Up Money Title, Player of the Year By Skipping Tour Championship

Steve Elling has the excuse details...

TigerWoods.com Traffic

From Doug Ferguson's AP notes column...

Rob McNamara wouldn't have to pay attention to Tiger Woods to appreciate how his year has gone. All he has do is look at the "unique browsers" - number of people visiting - on Woods' web site.

"There are peaks and valleys depending on how he makes news," said McNamara, who runs tigerwoods.com. "On the golf course or off the golf course, that thing really spikes."

The unique browsers were about 8,000 a day until it leapt to 20,696 on June 7, the day Woods' said he was ending his nine-week break from golf and entering the U.S. Open. It was relatively stable at about 15,000 during the week of the British Open, then hit 43,199 on the day he captured the claret jug, followed by 49,494 unique browsers the following day.

The same thing happened for the PGA Championship. Unique browsers went from 13,869 on Saturday when Woods pulled into a tie with Luke Donald, then increased to 36,287 when he won by five shots at Medinah. The day after the PGA, there were 46,015 unique browsers.

Asked about his season after winning the World Golf Championships-American Express Championship for his sixth consecutive PGA TOUR victory, Woods referred to it as a loss because of his father's death in May.

That, too, was reflected on the Web site.

There were about 293,836 unique browsers on May 3, the day Woods announced his father's death on the Web site.

Tiger On Page Six

Thanks to readers Tuco and Michael for this New York Post tidbit:

Tiger Woods got ambushed by an evangelical guest of Nike on Oct. 9 during an exclusive golf outing for top business and entertainment executives. According to our spy, 30 people - including Clear Channel Radio CEO Mark Mays, Louis Vuitton North America chief Daniel LaLonde and Details magazine editor Daniel Peres - gathered at the Trump golf course in Los Angeles for the 2006 "Tee It Up With Tiger Woods" event, which included a private golf session and lunch with the living legend. "During the lunch, there was a Q&A session with Woods, and most people were asking about their swings or golf questions," our source said. "Until some guy - a guest of Nike - stood up and said, 'Have you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior? And if not, prayfully, would you?' " The source added, "You could have heard a pin drop. People were mortified. But Tiger was as unflappable as he is on the golf course and responded, 'My father was a Christian - of course Christianity was part of my life - but my mother is Asian and Buddhism was also part of my childhood, so I practice both faiths respectfully.' "

The Sports Guy v. Woods

The prolific Bill Simmons shares some fun stuff from his 10 minutes of videogame time with Tiger.

The Dreaded Streak Debate

Tim Rosaforte writes today at GolfDigest.com:

The question came up last week, and it'll be all over The Golf Channel and ESPN and will no doubt create Blogomania on a slow news week: Is this still a streak? After all, Woods lost in the openin g round of the HSBC Match Play to Paul Casey ** [Shaun Micheel], then went 3-2 at the Ryder Cup. Both are non-PGA Tour events, and both were match-play competition. Making it even move conceivable to buy into the streak is that the HSBC, while official on the European Tour, was a 16-man field and barely more than an exhibition in the scheme of tournament golf.

Tiger says no, it is not a streak. But the Palm Beach Post ("Sweet No. 6 for Tiger") and every golf website I hit Monday refers to it as a streak, so it is what you want it to be. To me, it's kind of like the Tiger Slam. Stuff from another planet.

There was just the mild hint of a reference by Woods on Sunday that he's now starting to think about extending this, whatever it is. Comparing his run to Byron Nelson's 11 straight, Woods said, "It's still a long way to go. If you look at it, I'm barely halfway. What he did was absolutely remarkable, and I'm just thrilled that I've been able to win six in a row twice. That to me is a pretty neat accomplishment in itself."

It kind of sounds like he's treating it like a streak now, doesn't it?

Yes Tim, it is looking like a slow week in this little slice of "blogomania," and peering ahead at the remainder of the 2006 schedule, Tiger figures to play maybe 2 or 3 more times (Disney, Innisbrook, Tour Championship The TOUR Championship). Assuming he only plays Disney and the Tour Championship The TOUR Championship, and wins both, where would the streak possibly continue in 2007?

Well, first things first. This is the PGA Tour he's currently playing. Starting in January, it's the Fed Ex Cup. Deal with that, historians!

But getting ahead of ourselves, the streak will not be easy to maintain no matter how well Tiger plays or how little the competition steps up.

In '07, Tiger will likely play the Mercedes, followed by the Buick at Torrey Pines and the Nissan at Riviera. Assuming he wins all three after getting win Nos. 7 and 8 this year, Riviera would be the site for win No. 11 (and his first win there).

And the following week he'd go for No. 12 at the WGC Match Play in Tucson.

Win No. 13...oh okay, it's not that slow of a news week.

It's The Shoes, Vol. 2

Now Nike and Tiger are joining Padraig Harrington in claiming his shoes have added distance to a player's game.

BEAVERTON, Ore. (September 20, 2006) - Last month's PGA Championship set the stage for eventual champion Tiger Woods to debut Nike Golf's SP-8 TW Tour footwear, which is available in stores this fall. Since donning the stylish new design, which incorporates Nike's newest ground-breaking footwear technology, the Nike Power Platform, Woods' results have been astounding.

Not only did Woods go home with the Wannamaker Trophy after putting Nike's newest technology on his feet, but his average driving distance has since increased by nearly 10 yards. Prior to wearing the SP-8 TW Tour, Woods averaged 304.3 yards off the tee. Now, since wearing the SP-8 TW Tour, he is averaging 313.8 yards off the tee, according to PGA TOUR statistics. Also, among his recent five consecutive victories, three of them were with his Nike SP-8 TW Tour shoes.

"My right foot is grounded, my left foot has rolled forward and I'm in good balance," said Woods about his new footwear. "I definitely feel like I have more traction at impact."

Take that Hank Haney!

Tiger's Ryder Cup Press Conference

He opened with an opening statement regarding the obviously bogus photo and story purported to be about his wife, and then, a rally killer stepped in.

TIGER WOODS: Well, first of all, if you don't mind, I'll answer that second.

I just want to make an opening statement real quick. That, you know, for me personally, and for my wife, things that have occurred over here, I'm very disappointed, not the fans, not the people here, not the Irish people. But very disappointed in how the article that was written, my wife, yes, she has been a model prior and she did do some bikini photos. But to link her to porn websites and such is unacceptable, and I do not accept that at all. Neither does our team. And I just want to say that that doesn't deter or detract from the beauty of this event.

The people here have been absolutely fantastic. Irish people have come out and supported us, and Europeans, I just want to say, sometimes you shouldn't let I know the media can be a little bit difficult at times, but when you it's hard to be very diplomatic about this when you have so much emotion involved, when my wife is involved like this. I just hope that it was the right thing to do, and overall, as I said, I don't want that to deter from the beauty of this event.

We as a team have come together, we have bonded, it's been an absolutely fantastic week and have had such a great time here. Hospitality has been absolutely fantastic. Last week, as Gordon said, we were watching Chelsea Liverpool football match, first football match I've ever been to, quite an experience, quite a bit of singing. We don't do that in American football, that's for sure. So that was a new experience. And as I said, had an absolutely fantastic time this entire week. That was the last I'll say about that.

GORDON SIMPSON: Thank you very much.

Q. Ian Woosnam was in here and talking about if the weather stays as it is now and gets worse, that should play in favour of The European Team. What are your thoughts about that?

Now I know he said that was the last he would say about the subject, but of course it wasn't. Does that first question deserve a place in our rally killer of the year sweepstakes? I think so.

Doesn't this make you pray for a Tiger-Sergio singles pairing:

Q. A couple of things, Tiger. We know what your record is in these Matches. A, does it bother you what it is, or has it bothered you more now than it has a couple years ago; and B, Sergio some comments in Switzerland a few weeks ago and that your record is not very good and he looks forward to playing you three or four times. Do those comments annoy you?

TIGER WOODS: It's disappointing, I haven't won points on the Cups that I've been on to win points for my team. I've always felt it's a two point swing; winning a point, losing a point, it feels like it's two points going the wrong way. And unfortunately I've gone on the wrong end of it too many times. It's frustrating because you feel like you've not only let yourself down but you've let your teammate down that your playing with, your partner, as well as your teammates that are trying to win this Cup for our captain and our country. It's very disappointing.

As far as the Sergio comments, hopefully we can get together out there and play.

And now for the dumbest question o' the day.

Q. I read this morning that Team USA has been having a good old fashioned sing song and a couple of pints of Guinness?

TIGER WOODS: Say again, this morning we were drinking? You or us?

Nice comeback Tiger!

Here's today's chilliest exchange (at least, on paper):

Q. Do you feel that you intimidate your own playing partners at all, especially in the foursomes?

TIGER WOODS: No.

Q. No?

TIGER WOODS: No.

I take that back, the follow up, was the worst question of the day.