The Australian Masters in Melbourne last year (2009) was the last tournament that Tiger Woods played in and won before news of his personal life and extra marital affairs became the headline news. There was some controversy over the amount of Victorian tax payer money that was spend to convince him to come to Australia and play the tournament however the tiger mania that resulted from his visit to Australia meant that this amount of money was justified and increased the interest in the golf tournament and also contributed a great deal of extra money into the Victorian economy.
This year the Victorian government has decided to encourage Woods back to Australia to defend his title from last year in the Australian Masters. The tax payers in Victoria will foot half the bill for Woods to visit which this year will be 1.5 million, a figure that the Victorian government has assured will repay at least 10 times if the Woods hysteria of last year is anything to go by.
The Victorian government is confident that having top name golf players, such as Woods, compete in golfing tournaments in Australia and namely Melbourne then this will showcase some of the great sporting facilities that are in and around Melbourne. Increasing Melbourne’s profile as a sporting city will encourage more top rated players in all sports to compete in Australia with many positive flow on effects for the tourism industry.
Last year’s Masters at Kingston Heath Golf Club was a huge success with the event attracting more than die hard golf fans. The opportunity to see the then number one golf player in the world tee off in Australia was a huge draw card for golf enthusiasts as well as people who had never before attended a golfing tournament. The fact that Woods also won this event quite convincingly was the icing on the cake for the organisers.
The 2010 Australian Masters proves to be just as popular as last year with many people looking forward to seeing Woods defend his title. Woods has managed to maintain a large fan base in Australia which seems to be unaffected by the events that have occurred over the last 6 months. This fans will no doubt be cheering Woods on when he tees off in the Australian Masters at The Victoria Golf Club this year in November.
