Tiger Woods' victory at the 2019 Masters Tournament will go down as arguably the greatest comeback in sports history. U.S. President Donald Trump has already said he will award the Presidential Medal Of Freedom to Woods. What else does it mean?
Golf is officially back.
Doing It
Nike Inc NKE undoubtedly got a bump from Tiger’s win, with shares up early Monday. Nike received a ton of tournament exposure with the tournaments final group all Nike endorsers (Woods, Tony Finau, Francesco Molinari), following up a strong showing at Augusta National in 2018. According to Apex Marketing Group, Woods' victory was worth $22.54 million for Nike.
Drawing Eyeballs
Tiger Woods always moves the needle when it comes to TV ratings, as evidenced by CBS Corporation CBS clocking its highest golf ratings in four years on Saturday. Sunday ratings were a bit tempered due to the rounds early start to avoid inclement weather, but were still up 5 percent year over year.
Meanwhile, Discovery Communications DISCA has made a huge commitment to golf in recent months and would undoubtedly benefit from more interest in the sport.
The company signed an exclusive one-of-a-kind content partnership with Tiger Woods and is launching a golf streaming service, GolfTV, dubbed the "Netflix of golf." CEO David Zaslav announced two weeks ago the company will be launching more made-for-TV golf events with Woods under several different formats, similar to The Match.
Stock Up
A win for Tiger Woods is a win for all of golf, considering he is one of the few athletes still competing that can measurably move the needle in many ways.
More eyeballs and interest in golf is good for all the golf equipment manufacturers, and not just Tiger’s equipment outfitters TaylorMade and Bridgestone Corp BRDCY. Callaway Golf Co ELY shares are up nearly 2 percent Monday and Acushnet Holdings Corp GOLF saw a similar bump.
With Woods now the betting favorite in the PGA Championship next month, if he can continue his winning ways the ripple effect throughout the industry will be noticeable, if not substantial.
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Photo courtesy of The Masters, "The Final Putt and Celebration."
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