The impact of Tiger

In the news over the past few days has been the announcement that Tiger Woods is going to play the Australian Masters tournament in November, his first tournament in Australia since the 1998 Presidents Cup.

And a rare thing these days for Woods - an addition to his playing schedule. Woods has, for the past five or six years, been removing events from his schedule, not adding them.

But that is not the full story, or the part of the story that is causing a significant amount of controversy; behold the power of the multimillion dollar appearance fee.

Woods is getting a reported $3 million (at current exchange rates, approximately £2.1 million) just to show up at the tournament in Melbourne this November, and half of that, according to reports, will be paid for by Australian taxpayers. That's because the Victoria state government is chipping in half of Woods's appearance fee.

In these difficult times - financially - when people are losing their jobs and there is concern over the high levels of executive salaries, the public may have a right to be a bit upset that their government is spending $1.5 million on the highest paid sportsman in the world to come to a tournament that isn't even a big event in the global golfing calendar.

So why have they done it, and is it a good use of taxpayer dollars? Victoria state Premier John Brumby claims that Woods's appearance in the Australian Masters will contribute 19 million Australian dollars to the Melbourne economy.

The Victoria state government commissioned an accounting firm to do an economic impact study, and the dollar figure cited above is from that study. The figure is based on the study's conclusion that between 10,000 and 20,000 people will travel to Melbourne from other Australian states and from overseas to watch Woods play. If this is the case then he is pretty good value for money!

Appearance fees are not a new thing in golf and with so many events on the golfing calendar attracting the top players to play in these so called 'lesser' events can be difficult. It is a global game these days and the players rack up thousands of air miles during a season. The benefits of having a top class field are huge for the tournament organisers, in terms of crowds, TV viewing figures and sponsorship.

Woods is the highest paid sportsman in the world, as I said earlier. But there is a reason for this. Viewing figures on the US Tour drop by 50 per cent when he isn't playing. Having Tiger play in your tournament is a huge feather in any promoter's cap, even if the price is seemingly very high.

Look at it this way: that $3 million could be used to bring in 20 or so of the world's best players, but this would not have the same impact on the tournament as one Tiger!

The 'Woods effect' is a phenomenon - he has a power that nobody else in sport has. He is different from every other player and not only in the fact that he is the best, but in his appeal to the golfing public.

As much as we may all be a little bit envious of such a high figure being attached to him just turning up to play, $3 million seems pretty good value to me!