Highest ratings

Then suddenly Woods grabbed the spotlight as only he can, announcing his return to form with three impressive results - 12th at the Honda Classic, a tie for second at the Valspar Championship and a tie for fifth at the Arnold Palmer Invitational last month.

Woods' back now appears to be strong enough to carry the hopes of an entire industry that is experiencing a 'Tiger Bump'.

With Woods back in contention, NBC/Golf Channel said the final rounds of both the Arnold Palmer and Valspar championships registered the highest ratings for a PGA Tour telecast, outside of the majors, since the 2015 Wyndham Championship. The golf industry has also seen a spike.

Bridgestone said that when Woods (who uses the company's ball) has been in the field in 2018, the average basket value with Bridgestone products increased by over 120 percent compared with the same period in 2017. "His endorsement that we make the best ball is more valuable than all of the science and data that we throw out to the consumers," said Angel Ilgan, president and CEO of Bridgestone.

"It is just ridiculous that we can show them hundreds and thousands of testings with robots and projectile guns that we're the best ball, the most accurate ball. And the consumer doesn't believe us until Tiger says, 'Yeah, that's true.'

"During his absence the entire industry, the PGA Tour, we were all kind of looking who is the next player.

"Then when Tiger came back, the entire industry is once again jumping on his bandwagon."

Reuters