Thursday, February 26, 2009

Welcome back, Tiger!

With all the bad economic news, having Tiger back on Tour is great news for golf fans. He's brought back a spark of excitement that's been missing from the Tour. As can be expected, he had a few sloppy shots yesterday. And, he'll have a bigger test against Tim Clark today.

Golf has been getting a bad rap recently. We're hearing complaints about Northern Trust Company sponsoring the last PGA tournament since it received TARP money. Given that the sponsorship and t.v. commercial agreements were in place probably years before they got the TARP funds, Northern Trust would have been hit with lawsuits and penalties if they did try to pull out.

And, if Northern Trust has held parties for high-end clients in the past at the tournament and suddenly didn't this year, what would happen to their clients' confidence in Northern Trust? Companies have to continue marketing to their clients (and rewarding their top employees), especially in challenging times. Yes, it would be wise if not done so lavishly, but really who in government can complain about the waste of taxpayer dollars?

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