A Major For Ol' Earl

Woods wins back to back British Opens today. This is a feat that hasn't been done since Tom Watson in 1982.

Why do we care?

Because we are future millionaires and Tiger is the epitome of who and what we are trying to be. At a glance, Woods looks like your typical golfer. Golfers have it made. They make a living doing what we do to relax. That is like making a living sitting on the couch watching TV. What is not typical, is his drive and determination. His need to be number one. He has the ability to stay just as hungry as he was the weekend of his first Major victory.

Think about this: Tiger Woods has had a golf coach since he was 4 years old. How many people can do the same thing for 26 years with increasing intensity. When he loses (or doesn't win) he doesn't become angry he practices harder. Do you think after winning this British Open he is going to relax...NO, he is going to train harder. He is under the best circumstances ever and he will leverage this situation to train harder then ever for his next event. We all think we have witnessed a virtuoso performance but Tiger has a list of 50 things that he needs to work on based on his performance this weekend. Do you think Fat Phil Mickelson was grinding away after his wins? The only thing he grinded was pepper for his big juicy steak dinner that he put in his fat face.

Let's look at Tiger's earnings last year in detail: Tiger Earned 90 million last year, earning him the number one spot for the Athlete catagory in the Forbes Celebrity 100. Of the 90 Million that tiger took home only $10,628,023 was from playing golf. The rest is made from guest appearances and endorsements.

His sponsorship includes heavy hitters such as:
Nike
GM
Accenture
Tag Huer
Electronic Arts
American Express
Net Jets
Rolex (Recently signed deal - July 23, 2006)
and the list goes on.

Tiger is smart on and off the Tee box. He is probably the most well spoken athlete of his status. You never hear him saying anything politically incorrect or overly offensive in an interview. When he is attacked and questioned he shrugs it off. He is pure marketing genius. He has done a great job in appealing to all demographics. This appeal, although appearing effortless is practiced. Earl knew what he was doing and who he was working with. Tiger has been trained what to say, how to say it and just as important, what not to say. Kobe Bryant is an excellant example of marketing genius ruined by personality. As you can see it only takes a few bad decisions to create what almost seemed like an unstoppable down fall for Kobe. First the spat with Shaq, then the adultrous romp in the sack. Blend this with his cocky attitude, and you have a recipe for low jersey sales and broken contracts. Inoccent or not Kobe's pockets were hit hard in 2004.

I don't claim to be a golf pro, but I have heard to many times that Tiger is only good becuase he can drive the ball so far off the tee; stating today's game is all about power. They said that he could never compete in the days of Nicklaus and Palmer. Well I think this weekend proved a lot of people wrong. He played the entire weekend, only hitting his driver once. This was a course that Tiger picked apart with the precision of the Rolex's he will be selling. He knows the game inside and out. He is the ultimate hustler. So the tale goes....On one cold, windy, rainy and just plain ugly day Tiger was observed to be hitting iron shots for hours on the practice range. When asked what the heck he was doing out in the cold, he replied happily: “Are you crazy? When am I ever going to get to hit shots in Palo Alto in weather conditions that I’ll have to play in at a British Open?”
His shots this past weekend weren't luck. He knew. Earl Knew.

Tiger's Crib in Florida.

Related Links (Posted in the sidebar):

Tigers New Nike Commercial: Portrait of a Swing

Old American Express Commercial: My Life My Card