Golf fans rejoice over the return of Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods
Tiger Woods. Photograph: Chris Carlson/AP

During periods of fiscal uncertainty, America historically stays indoors and, using bumper-sized packets of crisps as sandbags, bunkers down in front of the telly to weather the storm. This state of affairs usually gives televised sport a fillip. And sure enough, over the last few months, viewing figures in the US for basketball and American football have gone up. However, over the last eight months, ratings for golf have plummeted faster than the Dow Jones.

Golf urgently needs Tiger Woods, who hasn't swung a club in anger since winning the US Open last June, and has had a serious knee injury that required major surgery. Ratings for the two major championships played in his absence highlight a dramatic golfing trend: viewing figures for our Open fell 15% from the previous year, while the US PGA championship lost more than half of the US TV audience that witnessed Woods clinch victory in 2007. No wonder the US golf tour's top suit, Tim Finchem, is "delighted" (make that ecstatic) that Tiger is back in action today at the Accenture world matchplay event in Arizona: the world's greatest golfer is effectively a one-man New Deal for the sport, a John Maynard Keynes de nos jours putting to win the tournament.

Woods is almost certain to deliver, and get golf's economic wheels turning faster than his driver on his downswing (around 130mph). Speculation over his prospects for this year has already reached fevered levels. He is priced at only 33-1 to win all four of this year's major titles - amazing, considering he has just had the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee totally reconstructed, and nobody in the history of the sport has ever won all four majors in a year before.

But then Tiger is not like anybody in the history of the sport. Not even Jack Nicklaus - whose record of 18 majors is under threat from Tiger, who currently has 14 - cast such a shadow over his era. Before surgery, Woods suggested his knee was operating at 20% of its capacity; now he insists it's back to 100%. And not only is Woods fully rested, he's basking in the glow of the birth of his first son, the charmingly named Charlie Axel, earlier this month. "I think he'll kick our butts like crazy," predicts fellow pro Kenny Perry. "I think he'll be ready to rock." Yes, even Tiger's rivals are glad he's back.