Arkansas Business

This story is from the archives of ArkansasSports360.com.

The PGA Tour's 2012 season thus far — through the West Coast and Florida swings — has been as thrilling as any we can recall. Yet, it took Sunday to remind us that none of it really matters unless Tiger Woods is playing like Tiger Woods.

Where we were reminded of this was not sitting on a couch in front of the TV on a beautiful spring day in Arkansas, but rather at the First Tee of Central Arkansas, where more than a dozen mid-major golf programs from around the region — from Sam Houston State to Eastern Kentucky and Missouri State and Austin Peay in between, along with locals Arkansas State and host UALR — were participating in what's become an annual event at Little Rock's golf academy.

The teams are all in town for a 54-hole event at Chenal Country Club's Bear Den course, and after a Sunday morning practice round they head over to First Tee to mingle with many of the youngsters in the First Tee's various programs while putting the fantastic practice area to use. One player from each of the college teams paired up with a First Tee member in a two-person scramble on the par-3 "Honors" course.

(Note: My son, a First Tee member, was part of the event. He's now a big fan of Missouri State.)

Throughout the day, these college golfers continually checked their iPhones for updates on Tiger Woods' play in the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill. "He's 4 shots up at the turn.... he's 5 in front now ..." etc.

On the TV in the First Tee clubhouse, with Kansas and North Carolina battling for a spot in the NCAA men's Final Four, the set was switched back to see how easily Tiger was coasting to victory in Florida.

We're not talking about the U.S. Open in June or the British Open in July, or even the Masters next month, but another PGA tournament (albeit hosted by the greatest ambassador in the game) being staged in March, and the interest among these folks was like that shown to a major. Tiger was roaring and all the golfers and would-be golfers and non-golfers with golfing kids were wanting to know how Tiger was doing.

It's been a while since Woods played well enough to command such attention. He had gone 30 months without a PGA victory.

As much as we'd like to think this type of interest in the PGA and in the game in general would happen during those stretches where Tiger was sidelined by injury, or where he was plagued by swing woes and not in the hunt for a title, it doesn't happen. Maybe a handful care, but dozens of young men are not checking their mobile devices to see how Phil Mickelson is fairing. They certainly weren't on Sunday. And after Phil, there is no American who commands that kind of attention.

The PGA Tour obviously needs Tiger playing like Tiger did in 2000 through 2007. The networks need Tiger to be Tiger. The golf magazines obviously need Tiger — in featuring excerpts from Hank Haney's new book "The Big Miss," which devotes many of the pages to Haney's time as Woods' teacher, who did the monthly Golf Digest mag put on the cover? Tiger, of course.

That's ironic, too, in that when Tiger's marital troubles surfaced in November 2009 and reports of his infidelities hit TMZ like daily weather reports, Golf Digest and Tiger at least temporarily cut ties involving his monthly teaching segment in the magazine.

Soon enough, all will be right with the golf world. Tiger's ghost writer will be telling us how to hit that 3-wood stinger off the tee when mistakes down the stretch must be avoided.