Tiger Still Making News World-Wide
Even When He is Not Saying a Word

By Tony Leodora

ORLANDO — Even though Tiger Woods has been quieter than a mime lately, he is still making news around the world.

First, there was the grainy paparazzi photo of a hooded Tiger Woods, taken while he has been cloistered at a sex addiction clinic in Mississippi. I never really knew what the state of Mississippi’s niche was in American society. Now I know – it’s to teach golfers to keep it in their knickers.

Then there were the comments of Geoff Ogilvy, winner of the PGA Tour’s first event of the year, who competed in Abu Dhabi last week. He publicly counseled Woods to speak publicly before rejoining the PGA Tour – keeping the media circus away from the other players.

Amazingly, it has been two months since that fateful night that made headlines, just a few miles from, Mystic Dunes Resort, my headquarters this week for the PGA Merchandise Show. Despite, the time buffer, one cannot go anywhere in golf circles without eventually getting into a discussion about Tiger.

For two Saturday’s, on either end of the PGA Merchandise Show, I am doing live remote broadcasts from Mystic Dunes. Last Saturday I had Rick Smith, the director of golf at Mystic Dunes, as my guest.
As we chatted, during commercial breaks, conversation somehow touched on Woods.

“You know something really amazing about this entire Tiger mess,” said Smith, who has one of the finest and well-stocked pro shops in the Orlando area. “Almost the second the whole thing went down, we immediately stopped selling Nike apparel. I think I can count on my hands the number of pieces I’ve sold in the last two months. If it has a swoosh on it, people aren’t buying it.

“This probably hasn’t hurt Nike’s national sales too much, so far,” Smith continued. “But that’s because we already bought so much. I don’t think you will see many people restocking with Nike clothing.”

As can be seen, there are few sectors of the golf industry that remain unaffected by the Tiger Woods debacle. At least, until he faces the media and the public, then returns to the task of being the No. 1 golfer in the world.