Tiger Woods announced that he is going to participate in the Australian Masters that is going to be held at the Kingston Heath in the Melbourne area in November. This will be the first appearance of the golfer Down Under since 1998 and the fourth time that he participates on a tournament in Australia; the last time was in the 1998 Presidents Cup.
The first visit of Woods was during the Australian Open in 1996 on the Australian Course in Sydney, where he finished tied for fifth behind the winner of that time, Greg Norman. His next tournament was the Australian Masters in 1997 at Hungtingdale in Melbourne where he finished seven shots behind the winner in that moment, Peter Lonard.
His participation, according to the Victoria State premier John Brumby, has already been confirmed. Brumby also explained that the visit of the top ranked golfer will give a lot of benefits to the state of Victoria, including $12.54 million in economic earnings, covering the $2 million fee that Woods is charging just for the appearance in the tournament.
"We expect thousands of visitors from interstate and overseas will come to Melbourne to see the world's greatest golfer on one of Melbourne's world-class golf course," the premier said in the statement. "The event will boost tourism, create jobs for Victorians and beam Melbourne to millions of people through a worldwide television audience."
The Australian golfer Stuart Appleby, who regularly plays against Woods in the PGA Tour, explained that this is something important for the people that haven't seen him in person and that will be able to do it now. He also stated that not many people will understand why he is earning $2 million for just showing up, but they have take into account all the benefits he will bring with him, mostly economic. He added that Woods has been in Asia and Europe a couple of times and that is good to have him in Australia too.
The director of the Australasian Tour Tournament, Andrew Langford-Jones, has also backed up the investment of bringing Tiger Woods for the tournament because is worth it. He explained that a lot of people depend on the golf industry for their jobs and incomes. He also said that the accommodations for the crowds that are going to be assisting to the Kingston Heath would be stretch, since they are estimating between 70.000 and 100.000 people going to the tournament.
Tiger Woods has recently come back to the golf courts, after he spent eight months resting and recovering from the knee surgery he had back in 2008 after winning the US Open. Woods finished ninth at the World Golf Championship event in Miami four days ago and lost in the second round of the Accenture World Match Play in Arizona two weeks earlier, those were the first events in which he has taken part this year. Tiger seems to feel fine after this well deserved and needed rest and we hope the best for him in the future.
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