MASTERPIECE

It is two weeks before the U.S. Open and Tiger Woods is standing on the practice tee at Sahalee Country Club in Redmond, Wash., where he is busy conducting a youth clinic.

Tiger is wearing a light gray suit, white shirt and tie and has just stepped out of a limousine that is longer than one of his drives. He removes the suit coat and watches the youngsters flail at the ball.

To amuse himself, Tiger grabs a club and aims a ball for a wooden bench about 200 yards away down the left side of the range. He hits it.

Afterward, Tiger puts on jet-black sunglasses with gleaming silver frames. The subject comes up about how much tournament purses have increased since he turned pro. Someone suggests to Tiger that he is responsible, so he should get a finder’s fee.

“Uh, you think?” says Tiger, who obviously agrees.

*

Hello everyone, and welcome to today’s first playing of the Tiger Woods game. Here’s your first big question:

Everything Tiger Woods touches turns to . . . what?

a) gold

b) No. 1 in the ratings

c) birdies

d) swooshes

Got the hang of it? Now, try this one:

What do other players have to shoot to beat Tiger Woods?

a) 10 under par

b) 15 under par

c) 20 under par

d) his foot

And here’s your final question:

How much will Tiger Woods’ presence add to what the PGA Tour gets in its next deal with the TV networks?

a) $150 million

b) $250 million

c) can’t count that high

*

If anyone was going to paint the PGA Tour of 2000, it would have to be done in stripes, of course.

Woods had one of the most dominant years in golf. He won nine times--the most in one PGA Tour season since 1950. He won three majors--the U.S. Open, the British Open and the PGA (for the second time). He also became, at 24, the youngest player to win all four major championships and set scoring records in each one.

At Pebble Beach, Woods won the U.S. Open by 15 shots--the biggest margin in the 140-year history of major championship golf.

At St. Andrews, Woods won the British Open with a 19-under par 269--the most under par in major championship history.

At Valhalla, Woods won the PGA Championship to become the first player to win consecutive titles under the stroke-play format and the first to successfully defend in 53 years. His 18-under-par total was a PGA Championship record.

The highlights were many, including his AT&T; title at Pebble Beach in February when he was down by seven shots with seven holes to play. He won the NEC Invitational with a “shot in the dark” when he couldn’t even see the flag from 168 yards out on the 18th fairway and still dropped the ball two feet from the hole. He won by 11 shots.

Of course, Woods didn’t triumph every time he played, even if it seemed that way. Hal Sutton beat him at The Players Championship. Phil Mickelson beat him at Torrey Pines. Darren Clarke beat him in a 36-hole match-play final at La Costa. He was third at Disney despite going 25 under par.

Doesn’t matter. If there is any overriding mental picture of the year on the PGA Tour, it’s Tiger holding a trophy and accepting another winner’s check.

Along the way, Woods has attracted a legion of notable fans, including eight-time major winner Tom Watson.

“He is bordering on supernatural,” Watson said. “He has raised the bar higher than anybody has ever raised it.”

At the same time, there can be no greater illustration of the influence Woods has had on the PGA Tour than to measure his considerable clout off the course.

No other player in golf has been responsible for generating more money for the sport than Woods. It’s possible that what has happened so far is only the beginning of the story.

“He’s limitless,” said Mark Steinberg, Woods’ agent at IMG. “He’s a transcendent athlete, finally being recognized as the greatest athlete on the planet.”

As we have already discovered, he is also a moneymaking machine. Woods has changed golf’s way of life, in television ratings and revenue, tournament purses and in commercial endorsements.

What’s happening? Call it the Tiger Rules.

Television: It’s in the Numbers

The golden age of golf? It’s right now, partner, and if there is any doubt, just check out what’s around the corner when the PGA Tour starts negotiating a renewal with the TV networks.

The numbers are nothing short of stunning. But first, you have to follow the dollar trail. The last deal ended in 1998 and was worth $160 million. The current four-year contract for an estimated $350 million ends in 2003--but negotiations for an extension will begin in a few months.

What that means for the value of a new contract is not clear, although insiders expect a package of somewhere near $525 million for four years, if the PGA Tour manages to get a fourth broadcaster--Fox--into the process.

In a five-year span, that’s an increase of nearly 350%.

While that figure does not come close to equaling major league baseball’s six-year, $2.5-billion deal from Fox, and golf ratings are not as high as baseball ratings, golf has something going for it that baseball doesn’t--golf delivers a demographic very desirable to certain sponsors . . . and sponsors will overpay for smaller ratings because of it.

Meanwhile, it’s no coincidence that these huge jumps in TV revenue have occurred since Woods turned professional in September 1997. Woods isn’t the PGA Tour, just the player everyone wants to see.

“More people are watching golf than ever before since Tiger Woods,” said Teri Wagner, vice president of programming for ABC Sports. “He’s raised the bar. Look at the advertisers.

“Plus, people look at the sport through different sets of eyes now because of Tiger,” Wagner said. “It’s not your father’s game or your grandfather’s game anymore.”

No, actually, it’s Tiger’s game.

If Woods plays in a tournament, the ratings spike upward like a rocket, even in regular PGA Tour events.

For instance, Woods did not play the Honda Classic in March on NBC, which had a 2.9 rating Sunday. But the next week Woods did play the Bay Hill Invitational, which had a 4.7 rating.

Woods played the Nissan Open at Riviera in February on CBS, which draw a 5.1 rating Sunday. He did not play the MCI Classic in April on CBS, which had a 3.0 rating Sunday.

Each ratings point equals 1 million households.

“You have to pay attention to the ratings,” Wagner said.

So let’s examine them. Experts say the presence of Woods on the leader board is worth an increase of half a ratings point to one point Saturday and 1 1/2 to 2 points Sunday--even more for major championships.

And because of the skill with which Woods plays, he has stretched the limits of what “being in contention” means. For normal players on a Sunday, it’s probably being no more than two or three shots off the lead. For Woods, it’s six or seven shots.

However, there is evidence that Woods’ presence alone does not guarantee a ratings bonanza. Woods must be somewhere in contention to deliver ratings.

He was not a factor this year at the Western Open and the ratings were not great on ABC--a 3.2 Sunday. In the 1999 Bay Hill, Woods was not in contention and the combined rating for Saturday and Sunday was only 2.8. Compare that number to the 4.7 for this year’s event, which he won, and that’s nearly a 60% increase in ratings.

At the same time, it seems that it doesn’t matter how far Woods is ahead, as far as affecting his ratings.

He had a 10-shot lead after three rounds of NBC’s telecast of the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach and still the Sunday rating was 8.1.

It was the most-watched U.S. Open ever. NBC estimated it had 53 million unique viewers for the weekend.

Said Tommy Roy, the executive producer of NBC Sports, “Tiger makes ratings jump.”

There is a reason for that, said Dick Ebersol, president of NBC Sports.

“Tiger Woods has joined Muhammad Ali and Michael Jordan as the three superstar athletes of this generation, whose appeal goes beyond sports.”

Purses: Play Now, Get More

The figures: In 1998, the last year before the PGA Tour’s current television deal kicked in, tournament purses totaled $96 million. This year, they were $170 million. In 2001, they are estimated at close to $185 million. The fact: Tiger Woods’ first full year as a pro was 1998.

Do you think it is a coincidence that tournament purses have gone through the roof at the same time Woods has been around?

There are 18 PGA Tour events this year with purses of at least $3 million. Each of the four World Golf Championship events offered $5-million purses and The Players Championship had a record $6-million purse. The AT&T; Pebble Beach National Pro-Am offered a $4-million purse for the first time this year.

To understand how much money is available week to week, you need an auditor, a bookkeeper and an investment banker just as much as a caddie.

The four $5-million tournaments that make up the World Golf Championships are a bonanza, not only in prize money, but also for the player who wins them. That’s worth $250,000.

Then there is Bank of America, which sponsors something called the “West Coast Swing,” the first nine PGA Tour events of the year. You play well in these tournaments and you are the Bank of America. Anyway, Bank of America adds $300,000 to each tournament’s purse, then gives $200,000 to the player who performs the best in that nine-event stretch.

For Woods, who won twice and finished second twice in that span, he picked up $2,173,731 in prize money, plus $200,000 for winning the West Coast Swing and an additional $300,000 for topping the World Golf Championships. Total haul: $2,673,731. And it’s only the first week of March.

Of course, that’s not all. It never is. PricewaterhouseCoopers sponsored the so-called Fall Finish, the final eight events of the year, adding $200,000 to each tournament’s purse and will award $200,000 to the top player in the eight events.

According to the Tiger Rules, money runs amok.

The Las Vegas tournament two weeks ago had a $2.6-million purse, but then Invensys became the sponsor and cranked up the total of $4.25 million. Next year, the Phoenix Open and the Sony Open join the AT&T; and Las Vegas in the $4-million plateau.

Soon, that’s going to be the norm. By 2003, the average prize money for a PGA Tour event is expected to be $4 million.

Tim Finchem, the PGA Tour commissioner, says that Woods isn’t the only reason for such a smooth ride, that a strong economy is also helping. Maybe so, but the question is, which came first . . . big-time purses or the Tiger Rules. It says right here, it’s the rules.

Endorsements: The Game Is On

Last month, Woods, 24, signed the largest contract in sports marketing history, a five-year, $100-million deal with Nike. Tiger’s father, Earl Woods, said in February that his son’s net worth was more than $150 million. And after Woods won the U.S. Open in June, financial specialists have said that Woods could become sports’ first $1-billion man.

This zoom has enabled some players to follow in Woods’ draft. Davis Love III signed a $50-million deal with Titleist.

Woods is clearly at the top of the endorsement totem pole, but he has raised the money-making standard too. At the same time, his power in the marketplace may have another effect--limiting the number of dollars available to the lesser players.

For instance, Woods got his money from Nike, but both Peter Jacobsen and Nick Price were dropped.

Many analysts believe that only the top 50 or so players in the world have some sort of endorsement clout and that the available money is going to be spread among this limited list.

Business Week analyzed the situation and discovered that while Woods’ success has increased the interest of the general public in golf, it has also contributed to the decline of the Senior PGA Tour and overshadowed the LPGA.

As for Woods himself, he doesn’t have to go around looking for money. Cash just seems to have a way of finding him on its own.

His appearance fee for overseas tournaments is now $2 million.

He reportedly turned down a $20-million deal to play a tournament in Europe for three years.

He probably couldn’t spend what he has now.

But that’s not the point, is it? On the course, Woods continues to set records and pile up victories at a record pace. And off the course, well, it’s a brave new world out there, and if we’ve learned anything this year on the PGA Tour, there is one guy in charge.

Tiger Rules.