Business of Sports August 13, 2009, 3:00PM EST

When Tiger Woods Loses, So Does the PGA

Given the tough economy, sponsor dollars for the PGA are already hard to get. When Woods isn't winning, they become even more scarce

Story Tools

1. PGA Championship 2009: Purple Haze(ltine)

Somehow, it's mid-August. And somehow, we've arrived at the PGA Tour's fourth and final Major of the year without Tiger Woods having won any of them.

Sure, Woods won the Bridgestone last week, becoming the first man to win the same PGA Tour event seven times in a row. And he's won a handful of others. But we all know Woods bases his annual earnings on Majors won—just as the organizers of the Majors base their ability to attract more corporate sponsors and ever-bigger TV contracts on Woods' continued dominance.

Especially in the current economy. With the Minnesota Vikings practicing an hour away, for free, organizers of this week's PGA Championship at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska "expect to turn a nice profit, but…with less help from the private sector, as financial considerations force some companies to downsize their presence," according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune. "A handful [of companies] went from 100-person chalets to 50-person chalets. Some companies are partnering with other companies, and some have gone from chalets to [10-person] tables," says Shannon Loecher, PGA Championship regional director of sales. Overall corporate participation is "down from 140 companies in 2002 to about 110 this year," she added.

Likewise, Tour officials have announced that 500 general admission weekly passes are still available for $300, and that the $425 Wanamaker package for the week sold out just days ago—a rarity for Majors.

Elsewhere on the Tour, the Deutsche Bank Championship, taking place in Boston from September 4-7, is still seeking the last of corporate hospitality buyers willing to spend up to $100,000 mere weeks before the opening round. Luckily for organizers, Woods has designated the event one of the tournaments that benefits his Tiger Woods Foundation and is therefore committed to participating indefinitely.

2. PGA Tweets and Feeds

After the brouhaha following the NFL's clampdown on Twitter and other social media channels during training camp last week, it's refreshing to know that the PGA Tour is embracing the outlets—at least, until it has reason not to.

British Open champ Stewart Cink is the undisputed Twitter king of the PGA Tour, with 685,710 followers as of Monday—over 75,000 more than avid golfer/pop star Justin Timberlake, at 608,632. Second behind Cink on the tour is broody style icon Ian Poulter, with 410,222 followers.The numbers dip more steeply than a U.S. Open green after that, with the Tour's official site at 13,769 followers, and young Irish sensation Rory McIlroy at a mere 9,676 (admittedly, he's new to the Twitter game).

On the media side, broadcaster Turner Sports and the PGA of America plan thorough social media coverage throughout the PGA Championship, building on existing Turner social media platforms created for Nascar and the NBA Eastern Conference Finals. TNT personalities Tweeting during the tourney include Ian Baker-Finch and Ernie Johnson; official tournament Twitter content, found on the Twitter site at @PGA_com, contains standard tournament coverage as well as golf "tip tweets" from PGA club pros.

Turner Sports has also developed a $1.99 iPhone application for PGA Championship coverage, sponsored by Dutch bank ING (ING).

3. Enjoy the Shoo—LeBron James' Big Week

LeBron James is making more headlines this week for what he's not doing than what he is—namely, not signing a contract extension with the Cleveland Cavaliers, a move that will likely make him an unrestricted free agent in 2010.