Tiger Woods set to play in Australia

Tiger Woods set to ignite 2009 Australian summer of golf.

Melbourne has won out over Sydney in luring Tiger Woods to play in Australia. He will compete in the Australian Masters in November at the Kingston Heath Golf Club.

The last time Tiger played in Australia was also in Melbourne over ten years ago at the President’s Cup.

The fee to get Tiger to play is about $3million, which is 10 times greater than the tournament’s $270,000 first prize. The Victorian government and sponsors will pay the fee. The Australian has reported that Victorian Premier John Brumby played a hand in securing the great feline;

A personal letter from Brumby, delivered to Woods at last year’s British Open, is understood to have helped convince Woods to choose Melbourne, where he has played twice before. “

Hang on? Last year’s British Open? Tiger didn’t win it so chances are he wasn’t even there.

It’s a pity it comes down to money and it would be nice if he could play the “John Daly Australian Swing” (JDAS) by playing the Australian PGA and the Australian Open as well. Having said that it’s exactly what golf in Australia needs.

We should all be wary of the let down factor once Tiger leaves which was nicely summed up by Stuart Appleby last year; “We don’t want to have a date with a supermodel and all of a sudden you’re going out with someone else who’s not so beautiful.” Let’s hope golf officials in Australia recognise this and use this coming interest in golf to enhance the Australian game.

In the meantime, let’s hope Eldrick’s knee holds up!