Tiger Woods Sportswriter Bill Lyon of Knight Ridder asked in a column, "Isn't Tiger Woods actually bad for golf?" (though Lyon ultimately concluded that he was not). At first, some pundits feared that Woods would drive the spirit of competition out of the game of golf by making existing courses obsolete and relegating opponents to simply competing for second place each week. A related effect was measured by University of California economist Jennifer Brown, who found that other golfers scored higher when competing against Woods than when he was not in the tournament. The scores of highly skilled (exempt) golfers are nearly
Tiger Woods of the Year a record-tying four times, and is one of only two people to be named "Sports Illustrated"s Sportsman of the Year more than once. Since his record-breaking win at the 1997 Masters, Woods became the biggest name in golf, and his presence in tournaments drew a huge fan following . Some sources have credited him for dramatically increasing prize money in golf, generating interest in new PGA tournament audiences, and for drawing the largest TV ratings in golf history. During the first decade of his professional career, Woods was the world's most marketable athlete. Shortly after his 21st