eBusiness Weekly
Mugove Chigada
Once you reach the very top, fame continues to follow you to the graveyard.
This reads true of Tiger Woods’s return.At the Farmers Insurance Open, our Tiger was completely in the woods, far from competing, but more cameras were glued at him to ensure “Tiger Coverage”.
And Joel Beall of Golfdigest in the past week pointed out how the old complains had suddenly resurfaced.
Yes, the audience demanded to see their hero. And with television, they go for more viewership rather than assume that which is bigger.
In football, it could be the equivalence of cameras glued on Didier Drogba watching Zimbabwe against South Africa.
Not that there is anyone bigger than him in those two teams, but sometimes what matters is the competitive game to be on the spotlight.
But as we have come to learn, golf can be very different. And you can’t control the viewers.
In this case, there was the argument that the field didn’t have some of the top golfers that normally get such attention to take back focus on the tournament.
“Complaints regarding Tiger media attention are far from new, going all the way back to his fledgling celebrity in the fall of 1996,” Beal wrote in Golfdigest.
“When he plays, the networks are going to give him coverage. And the fact is the public wants to see that coverage,” Neal H. Pilson, former president of CBS Sports was quoted as saying.
Golfdigest states that it is a notion supported by the numbers.
“According to CBS Sports, Sunday’s final-round coverage of the Farmers earned a 2,9 overnight rating, up 38 percent from last year’s broadcast (with no Tiger playing the weekend after he missed the cut).”
Back home, there are eight Zimbabwean golfers that entered for the Eye of Africa PGA Championship Qualifier set for Glenvista Country Club on the 6th of February.
They shouldn’t worry focus on the game will be diverted, and neither should they think they will get a “tiger share” on the course.
It is just a game for now and the cameras celebrate you much later, all the way into the grave.
It could, after all, be the best conditions one needs, when there is less focus on them.
The eight at the Glenvista Country Club on February 6 are Mohammad Rauf Mandhu, Nyasha Muyambo, Greg Bentley, Brian Gondo, Ignatius Mketekete, Sheldon Steyn, William Lake and Dean Nysschen.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe Ladies’ Golf Union is focused on the Ladies Fundraising Golf tournament set for Borrowdale Brooke Country Club on February 10.
It is the start they need ahead of what looks like a busy schedule for the ladies this year, locally and regionally.
The Union calendar for African tournaments, in particular, looks interesting.
They are planning to take part at the All Africa Junior Golf Challenge in Morocco in March.
In July focus will be on the A&B Triangular in Zambia while the All Africa Challenge trophy in August is also part of their schedule.
Feedback: Email—[email protected]. Twitter—@mugovechigada.
