TIGER WOODS, NIKE AND THE QUEST FOR MASS APPEAL

One of the things I love about Rory interviews is that in amongst everything he says there's almost always a nugget that points to what he really thinks and/or feels. So, it follows that when he sat down with Gary Neville, Ian Wright, Jamie Carragher and Roy Keane he said something that gave away the impending announcement from Tiger Woods and Nike:

"Golf is going to be a dying sport if we don't introduce young people to it and bring the next generation up with us".

Rory McIlroy

Golf has had a Tiger problem for the longest time. This applies to the Tour's as well as brands in this space. Let me explain: About a month ago I was invited to the British Sports Journalism Awards. At my table sat to my left was a young man called Kevin who asked me what I did career wise. When I told him about BBG, he asked me why? I proceeded to take out my phone and I showed him a picture of the greatest golfer to ever play the game. As I saw Kevin’s facial expression shift to one of bafflement, I simultaneously broke into a smile.

You see Kevin couldn't have been more than 30 years old and he didn't recognise Tiger.

Tiger to us Golfers is a deity. Those of us who have watched him from the 90s to present day, cannot tire of regaling those legendary rounds of golf that captivated us then and preoccupy our minds now. And therein lies the problem. For a parent golfer to inculcate these stories to a daughter or son is a no brainer. "IN YOUR LIFE!!!!!". But what about non-golfers?

If Tiger is to golf what Pele, Maradona, Messi, or Ronaldo are to football; or Jordan, Kobe or LeBron are to basketball; Sampras, Agassi, Federer, Djokovic or Nadal are to tennis; or Lara or Tendulkar are to cricket then here in lies the challenge. Tiger transcends our sport. But how? What form does this transcendence take? Is it financial transcendence, cultural transcendence, or both?

In the time that Tiger has been a pro we've seen all these sports have transcending athletes but our narrative in golf seems to be the same.

Whether Nike and Tiger decided to part ways because of Nike's bottom line numbers in golf (revenue generated from product lines); the Jordan brand conundrum; whether they looked at the Boston Matrix and understood the portfolio challenge of their players or whether they are going into team golf....or divesting from the sport altogether - that is not for me to say.

Back to the table at the awards show. I said to Kevin, the fact that you don't recognise Tiger Woods is not your fault. You just confirmed what is fundamentally at the core of the challenge we as a platform are trying to address: can young Black and other underrepresented young people see golf as a viable sport for them to take up sans the Tiger effect? 

There's some things that Rory talks about regarding golf courses and what they need to do or have done to grow the game and this is where I fundamentally disagree with his take. Golf clubs have done a lot and continue to do a lot. But they are unfairly bearing the brunt of the criticism - a load that isn't there's to carry!

Culture. Content. Not Skin Colour



Let's get to work!