Tiger Figures to Get Lion’s Share

There’s nothing like being 20 years old and a millionaire in training. So far, Tiger Woods plays the role of new golf pro like an old pro.

First, he took a comfortable flight Monday from Oregon, where Sunday he had won the U.S. Amateur for the third consecutive year, to Milwaukee aboard the private jet of Nike founder Phil Knight, who is prepared to throw so much money at Woods that he could paper the soles of every pair of swoosh shoes into the next millennium.

And when Woods showed up Tuesday at Milwaukee’s Brown Deer Park golf course and stood in front of the player-registration desk for the Greater Milwaukee Open, he took a registration form, checked the box next to the word professional, then did what all the really important pro golfers do.

He called in the accountants.

The first official day of Woods’ professional golf career was noteworthy because he made his decision public and because he is about to set new standards for endorsement income without ever having hit a golf ball as a pro.

There are reports that Nike will pay Woods $18-25 million--possibly as much as $40 million--in a five-year deal. Titleist apparently is already in line to sign him to a three-year, $3-million deal to use its golf balls.

According to an Associated Press survey of unspecified player agents, Woods’ estimated yearly endorsement income may reach $7 million.

It is in this economic environment that Woods will make his professional debut Thursday in the $1.2-million PGA Tour event in Milwaukee, where the only questions remaining are whether he actually can drive a golf ball into Lake Michigan and if he plans to mark his ball on the green with certificates of deposit.

Dave Stockton Jr., who played a practice round Tuesday with Woods, came away impressed with his playing partner, even if some others might not feel the same way.

“I’m sure there might be guys jealous of his [endorsement contracts], but the guys who are jealous of him just don’t know him,” Stockton said. “He’ll have a nice 15-minute conversation with you. He’s not like some guys out here, who’ll walk right past you like they’re better than you.

“Besides, in this sport, everybody keeps saying how they’re waiting for the next big star,” Stockton said. “Well, here he is.”

Television would seem to agree. ESPN announced that it would extend its coverage of the Greater Milwaukee Open to include the first two rounds to take advantage of Woods’ popularity among viewers.

Overnight television ratings in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York that measured Sunday’s U.S. Amateur final on NBC featuring Woods swamped the CBS telecast of the PGA Tour event scheduled opposite it.

In Los Angeles, the U.S. Amateur received a 6.0 rating and a 15 share compared to a 1.4 rating and four share for the NEC World Series of Golf. The L.A. rating peaked at a 10.4 the last quarter-hour. The overnight average for the nation’s 33 largest markets was a 5.3, the highest any golf event this year other than the U.S. Open, Masters and Bob Hope.

Before he played his practice round at Brown Deer, Woods took time out to offer a brief written statement confirming that he, indeed, had turned pro and that he wouldn’t be answering any questions until a media conference arranged by management firm IMG and scheduled for 2:30 p.m. today.

Woods probably will announce his playing schedule for the rest of the year, which is expected to include sponsors’ invitations that allow him to enter the seven PGA Tour-sanctioned tournaments he is permitted under the rules. Woods already has accepted a sponsor’s exemption into the Quad City Classic, Sept. 12-15.

Eight tournaments remain on the tour schedule, not counting the $3-million season-ending PGA Tour Championship that is open only to the top 30 players on the 1996 money list.

Woods must either win a tournament or finish the year in the top 125 on the money list in order to receive his PGA Tour card and earn exempt status that would basically allow him to enter any tournament he chooses in 1997. A two-year exemption comes with a tournament victory.

However, a PGA Tour official said that closer inspection of player exemption rules showed that if a player finishes between No. 125 and No. 150 on the 1996 list of money winners, that player can receive an unlimited number of sponsors’ exemptions for 1997. If Woods falls into such a category, he could basically play nearly every week and try to finish in the top 125 for 1997.

Woods closed out the most successful amateur golf career in United States Golf Assn. history Sunday with a historic 1-up victory over Steve Scott in a 38-hole final at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club in Cornelius, Ore.

Besides winning his third title, Woods scored his 17th consecutive match-play victory, improving his match-play record to 42-3. All three achievements are records.

After seeing Woods up close, Stockton said Woods appears to be the kind who can make it as a pro.

“He’s going to have a lot of pressure on him,” Stockton said. “But if anyone can handle it, it’s Tiger. I’ll be a great asset to have him on the tour. Everybody loves a winner.”