Tiger 101? College prof explains the 'Woods effect'

Top players play worse against Tiger Woods. You can measure it, which is what Northwestern professor Jennifer Brown did. Her conclusion, related in Jonah Lehrer's Frontal Cortex blog, is that players don't believe they can win when Woods is in the field, resulting in worse performance.

Despite the individualistic nature of the sport, the presence of Woods in the tournament had a powerful effect. Interestingly, Brown found that playing against Woods resulted in significantly decreased performance. When the superstar entered a tournament, every other golfer took, on average, 0.8 more strokes. This effect was even more pronounced when Woods was playing well. Based on this data, Brown calculated that the superstar effect boosted Woods' PGA earnings by nearly five million dollars.

Brown argues that this phenomenon is caused when "competitors scale back their effort in events where they believe Woods will surely win." After all, why waste energy and angst on an impossible contest?

Lehrer, whose Frontal Cortex blog is one of the best out there, has a different take on the Woods effect. Instead of giving up, Lehrer believes pros playing against Woods have the opposite problem.

I'd argue that the superstar effect has more to do with "paralysis by analysis" than with decreased motivation. I'd bet that playing with Tiger Woods makes golfers extra self-conscious, and that such self-consciousness leads to choking and decreased performance. The problem, then, isn't that golfers aren't trying hard enough when playing against Tiger -- it's that they're trying too hard.

Another guy who thinks this? PGA Championship winner Y.E. Yang. After he outlasted Woods at Hazeltine in August, a reporter asked Yang how he was able to wrestle a major from Woods when so many others had failed. Yang's response jibes completely with Lehrer's explanation of the Woods effect: "I think that the good players, the great names that you've mentioned, when they tee off with Tiger, they try to -- their competitive juices sort of flow out and they go head to head and try and win. For me, I don't consider myself as a great golfer. I'm still more of the lower than average PGA tour players. So my goal was today to just hit at least even, not go over par. I think probably that's the different mind-set that I had."

Alan Shipnuck's Mailbag: Paula Creamer, Tiger's club throwing and U.S. Open venues

"Now that Wie is getting all the attention again, I am wondering why Paula Creamer gets such short shrift? She is young, gorgeous, a winner, and from all accounts a fun and well-liked person. But Wie wins one tournament and she is viewed as the savior of the game? Is it just because she hits it further? I really do like the LPGA, and hope to see the two of them go head-to-head often. That to me is what will bring in attention, not if Wie repeats of Annika's dominance. Your thoughts?"

I like Paula Creamer as much as the next guy, but I think a couple of things are keeping her from a larger crossover stardom. She hasn't won a tournament in 14 months, so there's that. Not only has she failed to win a major in her otherwise excellent career, but she's also shown a distressing habit of coming apart mentally when she's had a chance. She let the Lorena Ochoa Invitational get away and it was irritating to watch Paula pout about it between the ropes. I think she still needs to grow up a little bit. Wie may be younger but she's been through so much drama I think she's tougher. You definitely diagnosed one factor in the more widespread interest surrounding Wie: Creamer is a short hitter who plays a pretty boring percentage game. Nancy Lopez once told me that for an LPGA player to become a superstar she has to look like a woman but hit the ball like a man. That's Wie, not Creamer. But each of these talented, telegenic players can push the other to greater heights. There hasn't been a really great LPGA rivalry since Annika-Karrie around the turn of the century. Wie-Creamer potentially has a lot more to offer.

"Alan - any comment on the Tiger club-throwing incident? He threw it into a crowd and could have injured someone. If this goes away quietly, it will prove it's still a society for the privileged."

My colleague Michael Walker has a hilarious take on this episode that I wish I had written. Obviously Tiger screwed up, but he didn't mean to tomahawk his club into the gallery, it just slipped out of his hand during a more conventional bit of pique. I think most of us would like to see Woods stop dropping f-bombs and slamming clubs – it's unbecoming and a little tacky. But you can't have it both ways. What makes Tiger the greatest winner in all of sports is how hot he burns on the inside, and it his ferocious competitiveness that produces such riveting theater. He's got his flaws, but Woods is a class act and we're all lucky to have him in our sport. (Imagine if Allen Iverson was the world's top golfer.) So I can live with Tiger's occasional lapses, even at the risk of being mocked by Michael Walker.

Still no sponsor for PGA Tour event at Torrey Pines

When Buick ended its sponsorship of PGA Tour events last summer, the organizers of the Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines were optimistic about finding another sponsor. After all, the Buick Invitational is one of the Tour's marquee regular season events. Tiger Woods wrote the most stirring chapter of his legend at the photogenic course at the 2008 U.S. Open and always plays the regular season event, and the TV ratings are excellent. Maybe more marginal Tour events would have trouble attracting new sponsors, but not Torrey Pines. You'd think they'd be lining up, right?

Not exactly, says Tod Leonard of The San Diego Union-Tribune. Leonard checks in with the Century Club, the group that runs the Torrey Pines tournament, and finds that even the high-profile Tour events aren't enough to attract sponsorship dollars in this poor economy.

Yet here the Century Club stands, a suitor spurned by numerous possible brides over the past three months. Not because the former Buick Invitational isn't handsome or worthy, but because Dad doesn't have enough money to pay for the wedding.

This is a dilemma far more dire than the concerns of the Century Club, and if the PGA Tour was slow in realizing that — and it's very clear now that it has been — the suits in the headquarters in Ponte Vedra, Fla., — and the players — are starting to come around.

“I've seen it in the last 90 days. The PGA Tour is completely aware the world has changed,” said Tom Wornham, the chairman of the Century Club, who along with tournament director Tom Wilson has been entrusted with finding a new sponsor.

The Century Club has pledged to host the 2010 tournament in January with or without a sponsor, but the implications for other Tour events are ominous. Leonard crunches the numbers and can only think of one way to bring in more sponsors: lower purses.

Now look at it from the PGA Tour's perspective. Over the next two years, the tour has around a dozen events that need to re-up with sponsors. If one of its premier events in San Diego is having so much trouble, what does that mean for everyone else?

It means the model will have to change. In a setup unique to major American sports, the golfers are their own bosses, and they're going to have to decide to take a pay cut, because the only way deals are going to get done is if the sponsors are paying less.

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Wie tweaks Woods in post-round comments

For Michelle Wie, 2009 has been a breakout year in a few different ways. She won the respect of her peers by earning her Tour card at Q school and she's played well all year, especially at the Solheim Cup where she posted a 3-0-1 record.

What's more, she's grown more comfortable with showing her personality in public through her artistic blog and her quirky Twitter feed. Wie's off-beat sense of humor was on display after her 2-under round Saturday at the Lorena Ochoa Invitational in Mexico. Asked about her sore ankle at a press conference, Wie had some fun with the favorite phrase of her fellow Stanford Cardinal Tiger Woods.

Q. On the first tee, I saw you with the ankle, you looked like you were limping, how much does it impinge on your game?
MICHELLE WIE: Well, I don't know how to answer that question. It is what it is. (Laughing).

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Alan Shipnuck's Mailbag: Drugs in golf, Tiger, Phil, Stricker and more

"Drug Barron, sorry, Doug Barron hasn't made a cut all year on the Nationwide Tour. What the heck was he taking? Mogadon?" -- Paul Mahoney

That's a funny line, but I know Tim Finchem isn't laughing. I, for one, am glad someone finally got caught, which is proof that the Tour's drug-testing program works. Of course there are pro golfers taking performance-enhancing drugs. They cheat on their wives and their taxes, but they're not going to indulge in a little chemistry that could significantly boost their careers, just because it's a game of honor, etc.? I never bought that argument.

The most interesting aspect of the Barron suspension has been the reaction of other players and various Tour apologists. They have offered Barron's pudgy physique as proof that he couldn't possibly have been using PEDs. This is so silly. A lot of baseball players who were juicing were pitchers. They didn't want to get yoked; they wanted to help their bodies recover. Might a golfer who hits 500 balls a day be looking for the same help? PEDs don't necessarily make you bigger and more muscular, they just provide extra endurance.

If that means more 400-pound bench presses, then yes, you're gonna wind up looking like Barry Bonds. But if all that athlete is doing is hitting a bunch of golf balls, then he can still look like Doug Barron, even while breaking the rules.

"Does Tiger have a set tradition after winning a tourney? Is there champagne on the plane...does he give his wife $100k? What goes on after a win?" — Mitchell Page

Yes, there is a tradition. He goes to sleep, wakes up the next morning at 5 a.m. and begins practicing for the next tournament. The 2007 PGA Championship is instructive. The week before, Tiger won at Firestone, in Akron, Ohio. By the time he finished all the interviews and ceremonies it was after 7 p.m. The next morning at dawn he was on the first tee at Southern Hills in Tulsa, about a thousand miles away. That's the kind of dedication that makes him Tiger Woods.

"I live near Madison and want to know if Steve Stricker is that nice all the time or does he have a side of him that is a jokester or less serious than we see him on TV? I mean, come on, is he that humble all the time?" -- Stuart

Unfortunately, yes, which means there's nothing salacious or controversial to write about the guy. Stricker might be the nicest human being on the planet. The only group of people who are gossipier and cattier than Tour wives are Tour caddies, and I've never heard anyone from either of these tribes say a single bad thing about the guy. I think we're all gonna have to just accept that Stricker is the Mother Theresa of golf.

"Tiger and Lefty seem to be getting along better lately. Is this just my imagination or are they starting to respect each other more?"  -- Roy

You know what Tiger respects? Achievement. When Phil blew him away on Sunday at the Tour Championship, that definitely got Tiger's attention. But no question their bond has been strengthened this year. It began with Amy Mickelson. Don't forget that Woods lost his dad to cancer. After Amy's diagnosis, Tiger sent Phil a number of heartfelt text messages that touched the Mickelsons deeply. Throw in their co-starring roles at the Presidents Cup, and this year has definitely brought Tiger and Phil closer together.

"At one stage Stack and Tilt seemed to be all the rage on Tour. Lately it seems to be fading out, especially after they lost Aaron Baddeley (who happened to be on the cover of their expensive DVD). What's the verdict on Tour? Has it been exposed as just another silver-bullet gimmick or does it still have a devoted following?" -- Marc 

A little of both, actually. As noted by another reader, Mike Weir has also jumped off the bandwagon. He and Baddeley both struggled with the driver during their S 'n T days. It's a swing that promotes a pretty steep swing plane, which can lead to solid contact with irons but inconsistency with the big stick. Beyond that, you have to remember that Tour players are lemmings. As soon as something seems to work they'll all try it, whether it's the Claw or Twitter or saucy tennis players. Then something new comes along and many players move on. When Dean Wilson wins the Masters, S 'n T will surely enjoy a comeback.

"What are the chances that we can get a game together where we have all of these super young guns pitted against each other on live TV for some serious cash? I'm thinking 21 and under here so it would be Rory McIlroy, Ryo Ishikawa, Rickie Fowler, Danny Lee and Jamie Lovemark. It would be quite a show featuring the future of the sport. And just think of the potential ramifications—it could start a MUCH needed rivalry that golf needs to make itself more relevant." -- Michael

This is the best idea I've heard in a while. Maybe this batch of youngsters could bring the Skins Game back from the dead. The problem with golf is that the compelling head-to-head matchups we crave happen so rarely. With their varying home bases and exempt status, the above Fab Five will only be in the same field a handful of times next year. The chances of even a couple of them showing up on the same leaderboard is remote. The made-for-TV spectacles have always focused on the same tired big names, but someone—Golf Channel? Golf.com?—should organize a series of Wonderful World of Golf style matches with all these intriguing young talents. Will it happen? I doubt it, but we can dream.

"Same question I ask every week: Why does only Tiger and no other player wear bright red on Sunday? Happy for anyone to tell me. Must not be Alan." --  JC

JC, I was hoping you would take the hint, but apparently not. So once and for all: Tiger wears the red shirt because his mom, Tida, did some kind of Thai-style voodoo and discerned that red is Tiger's "power color" and therefore he should wear it on Sundays. Once he won a few times, a tradition was born. It is funny how he has taken ownership of the color. I remember when Luke Donald wore red on Sunday at the '06 PGA when he was paired with Tiger. Polo had scripted Donald's outfits weeks in advance and he chose not to deviate. A lot of folks took that as him being uppity, which is ridiculous—it's just a shirt! A funny post-script was the Monday playoff at Torrey, when Rocco busted out red, assuming that Tiger would wear his only on Sunday. Wrong. Woods wore red for a second day in a row, and when he saw Rocco at the range before the round he muttered, "Nice shirt." Only in Tiger's universe can you talk trash about a guy's sartorial selection.

Photo: Wireimage.com (Barron); Getty Images (Woods, Mickelson)

Poll names Tiger Woods second-greatest sports star of all time

Yup, another second-place finish for Tiger Woods in 2009. A new Harris Poll asked Americans to name the greatest sports star of all time, and Tiger Woods came in second behind his friend Michael Jordan, who will likely use this for trash-talk ammunition next time the two are on the golf course. Rounding out the top five were Babe Ruth, Muhammad Ali and Brett Favre.

Among golfers, Woods finished first, followed by Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Phil Mickelson and Bobby Jones.

Will this settle the Woods vs. Nicklaus arguments? Not a chance. But, as Woods might say, "It is what it is."

Related: 20 Greatest Golfers | Woods and Nicklaus Major Championship

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Fox Sports premieres Tiger TV for Aussie Masters

When Tiger Woods plays in the Australian Masters in two weeks, viewers Down Under will be able to watch the normal telecast on free TV. However, pay viewers will get the option of watching only Woods by pressing a red button on their remote control. The Age's Geoff McClure has the details:

In what will be an Australian television first, viewers who, by simply pressing the red button on their remote control, will be able to watch ''the Tracker'' where they will see every televised shot of Woods as he makes his way around the 18 holes of the four-day tournament. Foxtel is televising the event along with the free-to-air service provided by Channel Nine. While Nine will naturally be focusing much of its attention on the world's greatest golfer, Foxtel will provide a service whereby viewers will be able to see nothing but Woods or, if they prefer, one of the other stars of the show, players such as Geoff Ogilvy, Robert Allenby and Adam Scott.

Of course, some critics might say American viewers get Tiger Tracker every weekend, and we don't even have to press a button.

Related: More Tiger | Career in photos | Family photos | Woods vs. Nicklaus

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Alan Shipnuck's Mailbag: Fall Series, LPGA awards, Fred Couples, Tiger Woods and more

How do you know the golf season is winding down? Because Mailbag production has dropped precipitously. I've been on a little book leave, racing to finish my collaboration with Christina Kim on a compulsively readable diary of the 2009 season. I'll tell you more about it at the appropriate time, but now for the most pressing questions of a sluggish fall.

"Do you think the Fall Series tournaments will eventually fold? It seems like the Tour does not support them in any way. If I was Timberlake [right, with Martin Laird], I'd want a better date or I'd pull my support." - John from Austin

The major flaw in this question is that it assumes the Fall Series tournaments are real PGA Tour events. In fact, they're elaborately staged dress rehearsals. The Tour has done an excellent job Band-Aiding together a schedule for 2010, but 2011 is likely to see a lot more upheaval, with more sponsors dropping out and a handful of empty dates opening up. Voila, the current roster of fall events can slide right into the "regular season" schedule after having had a few years to work out the kinks and establish fan bases. Once that happens the Fall Series will mercifully disappear forever.

"Is the mainstream golf media ever going to focus on the LPGA's Player of the Year/money list/Vare Trophy races? You've got the top Korean [Shin], Japanese [Miyazato], Mexican [Ochoa], American [Kerr], European [Pettersen], and Taiwanese [Tseng] player each with a chance to win it all. Why isn't this covered like a pennant race in baseball?" - Bruce Simon

The LPGA is dark this week, and then it's a sprint to the finish with the final four tournaments played over four weeks in four countries: Korea, Japan, Mexico, Texas. Hopefully golf fans will start paying attention because, as noted, there are a half dozen intriguing players in the mix for all the important season-ending awards and, blessedly, strokes are still the metric, not points. But here's the problem: the events in Korea and Japan have no U.S. television coverage. The players are treated like rock stars in those countries but over here they'll be lucky to get a few mentions on "Golf Central." Luckily next year the new Golf Channel deal kicks in and the network is contractually obligated to televise more of the LPGA's overseas schedule, so hopefully this late-season black hole will not be repeated.

Can Tiger Woods play golf like a 12-year-old?

After playing against 18-year-old Ryo Ishikawa at the Presidents Cup, Tiger Woods knows that his rivals will keep getting younger and younger, but this is ridiculous.

Hosting potential investors at his new course design in Asheville, N.C., last week, Woods launched a few ceremonial tee shots on the still-to-be-built course. It must have been one of those days for Woods because he missed a couple drives right, and he asked if someone in the crowd wanted to give it a go, according to The Press of Atlantic City's Scott Cronick.

He got one taker: 12-year-old Mark Benevento Jr. of Somers Point, N.J. The kid absolutely pured two drives.

The best part is Woods's bemused reaction: "How old are you? 12? Twelve-years-old...."

Tiger Woods: I'm not a billionaire

Last week, Forbes reported that Tiger Woods was the first athlete to earn $1 billion. One problem, though: Woods says he doesn't have that much money. At a Presidents Cup news conference Tuesday, a reporter asked Woods directly about the Forbes report.

Reporter: "This last week, it was announced you hit the billionaire status. What's that like to learn?"

Tiger Woods: [Laughs] "Well, one, I haven't, so I don't know where that number came from."

Forbes cited estimates of Woods's earnings from endorsements, tournament winnings, appearance fees and his nascent golf-course design business. Other than tournament winnings, Forbes could only guess at the other income of the famously circumspect Woods, and the business magazine admitted its figures could not be exact.

As for Woods, only his accountant knows if Tiger is a billionaire athlete yet, but if it did not happen on Sunday [after his $10 million FedEx Cup win] it is likely only a matter of months or his next check from Nike.

Woods is certain to be the first billionaire athlete, but we'll never know when it happens. He likely won't know right away either, and when he does learn, the only acknowledgment of the fact will probably be a private smile behind the tinted windows of a Buick SUV.

More on Tiger: How Tiger Makes his Millions | Tiger Tracker | Family Album | SI Covers

Photo: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images