Tiger Woods, Rolex and the superlative of greatest are all too familiar with each other but by GOAT here; I mean the Greatest of all Testimonees.
Of course, there’s many an argument to be had on why Nicklaus should be remembered as the Greatest of all Time in the golfing world and how the Rolex bubble could burst at any point, but that said, the Big Cat and the Crown will always be seen by many as the pinnacle in their respective fields.
So with that in mind, is Tiger Woods the greatest testimonee Rolex has ever had?
Let’s start with rolex.com. The first thing you see when you head to the Golf section of the page is Tiger Woods. He sits above descriptions on The Masters, the US Open, the PGA Championship and The Open, all of which are world-renowned events and major marketing exercises by their very name.
This is a man who has been out of action for nearly two years, his last event coming at The Masters in November 2020 when making a defence of his famous comeback win in 2019, yet still the Rolex marketing department puts him above not only the plethora of affiliated tournaments but also the “New Guard” of testimonees which comprise the likes of Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler – all who perform week in week out in the upper echelons of the sport.
That gives just a small snippet of just how much value Rolex places on the head of Woods who they signed in 2011.
In the age of the new, controversial Player Impact Program (PIP), we can again see just how valuable Tiger Woods is to those he works with.
Despite not participating in a single official event in 2021, Tiger finished atop the PIP rankings and secured himself a generous $8m from the PGA Tour for doing so.
Audited by Grant Thornton, the PIP rankings take into account a number of criteria to work out just how important a player is in generating interest, revenue and hype around Golf.]
These include internet searches, earned media, social media, TV sponsor exposure and general awareness among the US population.
Finishing on top, above the likes of Mickelson who won a major championship in 2021 and the active youngsters on tour like Bryson DeChambeau who specifically attracted a load of attention last year speaks volumes for the 46-year-old.
Enough on Tiger for now though because it is relatively easy to make a compelling case for him, but what about the others who have sat atop the Rolex tree for years?
Roger Federer is the man who springs to mind.
Again, the first thing we see on rolex.com is an image of the great Roger Federer who has for the past two decades and more has been the man to beat on court.
He has only recently been eclipsed by the likes of Djokovic and Nadal – a record similar to that of Jack Nicklaus’ in golf because despite the number of major/grand slam wins, most people would reply with the name of Roger Federer and Tiger Woods when you asked them to name a golfer or tennis player.
What does work in the favour of Roger Federer though is a couple of things.
Firstly, he is Swiss. Symbiotic with the luxury watch world around the globe, this relationship can’t be understated with Rolex themselves describing Mr Federer as the “Swiss phenomenon.”
Next is the way Tennis is loved around the world. Rather than Golf which is less exciting to watch, perhaps down to the coverage rather than the sport itself, Tennis is watched and loved regularly around the world and the four grand slams really do drive a love of the game across all demographics.
Wimbledon is the pinnacle of this in the UK with the country annually reaching fever pitch when the world’s top pros come to town, something that golf generally struggles to achieve, even in an exciting Open Championship at St Andrews or big Ryder Cup year.
That said, there is and always will be something about Tiger Woods that drives love and excitement.
A quick look at Google Trends data since it began in 2004 shows that even in the inactive Tiger Woods years, he was regularly peaking above Roger Federer in terms of search interest.
Issues away from the course may have certainly muddied the waters for some in their view of Tiger Woods, none more so than a flurry of advertisers and brands that distanced themselves, but when he made that comeback in 2019 and “climbed Everest” as he put it himself, Rolex was there to mop up the excess love as he slipped into his fifth green jacket with his Rolex Deepsea D-Blue watch.
Will he do the same again at The Masters this week?
After Hideki Matsuyama secured his first major win at Augusta last year, WatchPro took a look at which watch brands were most successful there:
Rolex back on top at The Masters, but which watch brands dominate the green jacket?
