Clive Palmer, the billionaire owner of the Palmer Coolum Resort, doesn’t want Tiger Woods in his tournament, claims Yahoo Sports .
After hosting the Australian PGA Tour at his resort for 10 years in a row, you would think he would be okay with the idea of having the most famous golfer of the time compete in it.
He tells The Australian :
“Tiger Woods isn’t the No. 1 golfer in the world any more. We don’t want to look backwards, we want to look forwards. So why would you get Tiger Woods here? I would prefer to have Peter Senior than Tiger Woods.
“I am sure Peter Senior could beat Tiger Woods on a good day. I am sure he could.
“ Tiger Woods has improved a lot but he’s an emotional wreck and he’s not a good example for kids, anyway.”
Peter Senior, at the age of 53, is still a great golfer, having won the same event in 2010. He has won four European Tour awards, the last of which was in 1992. Tiger Woods was just turning 17 at that time.
Palmer apparently doesn’t know what he’s doing, as Tiger Woods would bring in a much wider and younger audience than the old timer Peter Senior. With Tiger, the buzz would bring reporters from across the world. Without Tiger, the tournament fails to be relevant to the fan base. Even those of us who barely know anything about golf know who Tiger Woods is.
Tiger Woods may not be a role model with his choice words when the ball doesn’t go where he wants or his personal life a couple of years ago, but to exclude him from a golf tournament that you’re trying to drive worldwide attention to?
That’s just bad business.
