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October 29, 2008 02:15am AEDT | Make this site your homepage

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Bottom line boost with Tiger Woods on the tee

Brent Read | October 29, 2008

BARELY a summer goes by without Tiger Woods being ambitiously eyed off by those in charge of the domestic tour. Thus far, Woods' prohibitive appearance fee, rumoured to be anywhere from $4 million to $6m, has precluded any Australian tournament luring the world's best player.

But hope springs eternal and yesterday, at the Australasian PGA's launch in Melbourne, two of this country's best players spoke effusively of the prospect of Woods returning to Australia once he recovers from the knee surgery which has sidelined him since his remarkable US Open win.

"Having him in a tournament and doing it the right way would have an incredible knock-on effect," former US Open champion Geoff Ogilvy said.

"Economists have done studies of the future economic impact when he actually plays a golf tournament and it's massive. It's really worth getting him here if we can and making it work.

"The Australian public need to see him playing because he's special."

While the chances of Woods returning to Australia remain remote, his influence is as strong as ever on the domestic scene and its players.

Stuart Appleby, a good friend of the 14-time major winner, has begun studying Woods in the hope it will improve his game. The Victorian is an eight-time winner on the US Tour but believes mimicking Woods can only be beneficial.

"I use Tiger as a great role model for the things he says, the way he acts and the way he plays the game," Appleby said.

"The more I study what he does, the more I learn about him."

Such as? "I asked him a question about his whole fist-pumping thing," he said.

"If I did that, adrenalin would be coursing through my veins and I would be so jacked up it wouldn't help my game.

"He said, 'it makes me concentrate more'."

As well as Appleby, Ogilvy believes he and his fellow professionals can glean plenty from the world No1, particularly when it comes to the mental side of the game.

"Physically he does everything pretty well," Ogilvy said.

"Adam (Scott) definitely drives the ball better than Tiger. His complete game ball-striking-wise is better than Tiger. But Tiger's short game is ridiculous. His belief is superb.

"Most pros can hole 20-footers, not many do it on the 72nd hole of the US Open on bad greens. He does."

American Paul Goydos, who once supplemented his earnings on the golf course by working as a substitute teacher, and South African Tim Clark lead the overseas contingent hoping to continue Ogilvy's barren run in Australia, where he has failed to win as a professional.

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Copyright 2008 News Limited. All times AEDT (GMT + 11).