Tiger Woods is sitting pretty today as the world’s largest manufacturer of two-wheelers, Hero MotorCorp, , announced a global sponsorship with him on Tuesday.  The Indian motorcycle and scooter maker is little known in the U.S., but it plans to use Woods to bolster its expansion outside of its base in India.  There, it generates 98% of its sales.

The good news for Woods, comes just two days ahead of his return to competitive golf, after four months off. Woods, who celebrates his 39 birthday on December 30, will take to Isleworth Golf & Country Club to tee it up  on Thursday at the annual tournament that he hosts, the Hero World Challenge.  The Challenge benefits the Tiger Woods Foundation. Hero MotorCorp also signed on (in September) to be a sponsor of the event which features 18 of the best golfers in the world, including Zach Johnson, Bubba Watson, Henrik Stenson, Justin Rose and Rickie Fowler.

MotorCorp is one of the newest in Woods’ sponsor portfolio as he returns to the course.  After four months off, recovering from back surgery, he missed the cut at the PGA Championship in August—his fourth tournament back after back surgery in March. The four events included two missed cuts and a withdrawal.  It was a disappointing year for Woods who finished 201st on the money list with $108,275 and saw his world ranking plummet to No. 24 after starting 2014 ranked first. The 14-time major winner also yanked his name from consideration for a captain’s pick for the 2014 U.S. Ryder Cup team.

The new Hero MotorCorp deal is the most lucrative new sponsorship to date, since his 2009 infidelity scandal.  It runs four years and could bring incentives for others to follow.  Since his 2009 infidelity scandal, Woods lost personally and professionally as things crumbled around him including his marriage and rich endorsements with Accenture , AT&T T, PepsiCo, Gillette , Tag Heuer and Electronic Arts.

Press reports from India put the value of the Hero deal at roughly $8 million a year. Hero CEO Pawan Munjal wouldn’t comment on financial terms, but when asked about the rich price tag, Munjal quipped: “It is Tiger Woods after all.”

Woods ranked sixth in June in Forbes’ annual look at the world’s highest-paid athletes with earnings of $61.2 million. His Nike sponsorship remains one of the biggest in sports with the $28.8 billion-in-sales sportswear giant building a $789 million golf division on the back of Woods.

Global travel may have helped to pave the way for The Woods foundation for the Hero MotorCorp partnership, because, it was solidified in February when Woods played an exhibition in India hosted by Munjal and also featured Hero-sponsored golfer Shiv Kapur, who is one of India’s most high-profile golfers. Munjal says he was considering a handful of celebrities to help with the global expansion of Hero, but quickly settled on Woods. “I thought he was the best fit for our company. He is one of the biggest global celebrities and cuts across all segments,” said Munjal by phone. “We need to very quickly make the brand recognizable and popular globally. I am very confident that with Tiger, we will be able to do that.”

Munjal has big international plans for Hero. The company will enter the European market in 2015, followed by the U.S. and Brazil in 2016. The latter will coincide with the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics, which Woods has expressed interest in participating. Hero projects to be in 50 countries by 2020 with sales volume of 12 million units, up from current totals of 21 countries and six million units. Munjal expects Woods to play a major role in the global expansion through promoting the brand and advertising across print, TV, digital and social. Munjal says that sales outside of India should reach 10% of the company within 3-4 years.

Hero reported net income of $348 million on $4.2 billion in sales for its latest fiscal year. Analysts expect sales to increase 14% for the latest fiscal year ending in March.

December 2, 2014   |   By Farrell Evans

One of the most enduring images from Tiger Woods’s historic 1997 Masters win doesn’t involve golf shots or the green jacket. Before the traditional winner’s dinner that Sunday night, as Woods walked into the clubhouse, the all-Black waitstaff set down their dishes and napkins and applauded the first Black major winner. Because at Augusta National, as with most private clubs, African-Americans have typically been consigned to jobs as caddies, cooks, busboys and waiters.

Watching that year was Rodney Green, who had recently begun his career as a head golf professional. Green had always wanted an “out front” golf job, with the ability to hire, fire and represent the club. Today, 50 years after the end of the PGA’s Caucasians-only clause allowed Black men to play the Tour. 

Green, the director of golf at Innisbrook Resort in Tampa, is one of only 85 African American PGA club professionals—a group that makes up less than one-half of 1 percent of the nation’s 28,000 pros. (There have been just two Black women to earn membership—Renee Powell and Maulana Dotch.) Add Hispanics and Asians (263 and 196 PGA members, respectively), and minorities make up less than 2 percent of all PGA pros.

This despite the fact that Blacks, Asians and Hispanics comprise 21 percent of golfers in America, according to the National Golf Foundation. As a point of comparison, about 24 percent of members of the United States Professional Tennis Association—the oldest teaching organization in the tennis industry, dating to 1927—are minorities.

PGA professionals are the game’s most visible ambassadors. They give the lessons and run the pro shops. Yet among their ranks, minorities are virtually invisible.

Read more at GOLF

Tongues are wagging and rumors are swirling as Tiger Woods competes this week (for the first time since August) as a headliner at the Hero World Challenge.  The invitation-only, star-studded field features a strong line-up of players for the 72-hole, stroke play event.  It plans to be covered from all angles by Golf Channel and NBC—ching, ching for broadcast media and the multi-million viewership that is expected.

The Hero World Challenge is co-sponsored by the PGA TOUR and benefits the Tiger Woods Foundation and Tavistock Foundation.  It will take place at Isleworth Golf & Country Club in Orlando, Fla., featuring 17 of the PGA TOUR’s best players who are competing
for the $3.5 million purse.

Woods has claimed this tournament’s victory in five times prior.  But, that was before his infamous back injury and surgery.  Fans, and foes alike, will be conspicuous watching television screens across the world when he makes this debut.  Many are looking to see most importantly how Tiger hits it.  And the adrenaline is sure to be flowing while spectators try to figure out just how healthy Woods’ back is so far, and what new or old things he will convey during the competition.   Woods missed the cut at the PGA Championship in August.

Golf Channel will air live coverage of the Hero World Challenge Thursday, Dec. 4 and Friday, Dec. 5, followed by weekend coverage on both Golf Channel and NBC, Saturday, Dec. 6 and Sunday, Dec. 7.

2014 Hero World Challenge Field

The Tiger Woods Foundation and Tavistock Group announced on December 3, 2014 that the Hero World Challenge will move to Albany, the luxury resort community in The Bahamas jointly owned by Tavistock Group, Tiger Woods and Ernie Els, beginning in 2015.

Fast becoming known as the “Monaco of the Caribbean,” Albany offers a live, work, play environment unlike any other in the region and features a unique desert links style championship golf course designed by Ernie Els.

Derek Sprague, of Malone, New York, was elected the 39th President of the PGA of America on November 22 at the Association’s 98th Annual Meeting in Indianapolis. Sprague, age 47, replaces Ted Bishop, who was fired after making “inappropriate” remarks on Twitter, calling British golfer Ian Poulter a “lil girl” on Twitter and on a Facebook posting, prompting the PGA of America board of directors to remove Bishop, who later apologized for his comments.  It was a gloomy day for the PGA of America, as this is the first time in the organization’s 98-year history that such a removal like this had been done.

Sprague began service on the Northeastern New York PGA Board of Directors in 1998, and served as section president from 2003-2004. He also was a member of the section’s employment committee from 1995-2001. He turned professional in 1989. He began his career at Malone Golf Club and was elected to PGA membership in 1993.

Sprague was named the 2005 and 2008 Northeastern New York PGA Golf Professional of the Year. And he is also a four-time (2000-03) Section Bill Strausbaugh Award recipient; a two-time Section Merchandiser of the Year for Public Facilities (1998-99); and winner of the 2006 Section President’s Plaque for outstanding contributions to player development.

Sprague is a 1988 graduate of James Madison University, where he competed on the golf team and earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Marketing. He and his wife, Jennifer, live in Malone, and are parents of a daughter, Alexandra; and a son, Davis.

His tenure as PGA president will coincide with the organization’s 100th anniversary in 2016, the re-introduction of golf to the Olympics in 2016, and the 2016 Ryder Cup, which will be held at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minnesota.