Tiger Woods, Tim Finchem enter World Golf Hall of Fame together after parallel Careers

But there is a symmetry to the 22-year stretch that should not be Overlooked, when Woods and Finchem combined to massively grow the PGA TOUR. Finchem’s handprints are all over significant developments during this time, even if they don’t receive the sort of Accolades that Woods’ numbers do:

• When he became Commissioner, there were three Tours and total Purses of $ 90 million. By 2016, there were six Tours and $ 328 million in pursues.
• The World Golf Championships were introduced in 1999. Woods would win 16 of the first 33.
• In 2016, golf returned to the Olympics for the first time in more than 100 years.
• The FedExCup, a season-long competition that culminated with a sequence of Playoff events, began in 2007.
• First Tee was born in 1997 and remains a pet project of Finchem’s. More than three million youngsters are impacted annually.
• Now eye-opening is the charitable component that the PGA TOUR donates to local communities. From the first check in 1937, it reached $ 1 billion in 2005, then it took just nine years to surpass $ 2 billion. (In 2020, it reached $ 3 billion. “Three billion,” said Browne. “That’s Shocking. That’s real.”)

Toss it all around, digest all of it, and Brad Faxon concedes it is fascinating how each man contributed so much during such a joint time frame. Faxon, who was in his 12th year on TOUR when Finchem succeeded Beman, served several stints on the PAC under Finchem’s watch and heard a lot of people say that “it was good luck” that Woods came along when he did.

“Luck equals opportunity plus preparedness and Tim was always prepared,” Faxon said. “Bottom line is, it’s fitting they enter the Hall of Fame in the same class.”

What strikes Browne are the contributions each inductee made to the Incredible growth of the pro game.

“Tiger attracted the eyes and ears of the sports world to what was always a pooh-poohed sport,” he said. “He legitimized golf as an athletic endeavor. And Tim, to his credit, understood the value that golf brought and that there was a Confluence to Tiger – a social aspect, he was telegenic to the ‘Nth’ power, he was made for the moment. ”

Finchem is on record as calling Woods “the most recognizable athlete on the planet” and that “he changed the landscape and effected TV (viewership and contracts), sponsorships and took golf to a whole new level.”

Browne wouldn’t dispute any of that. He also agrees that it shouldn’t go unnoticed that for all the might each of them wielded, rarely were they not on the same page.

“I just don’t think either one of them tried to pull anything over on the other,” Browne said. “I think Tiger knew that his relevance in history was through the PGA TOUR, that he understands that the value of his Legacy is built around the records he attains.

“Tim’s relevance was to try and grow the game and he knew how to do it. If something needed to be done, he picked up the phone and would get a response. ”

Taken as individuals, the game was Lucky to have them. Taken in tandem, the game saw growth no one could have envisioned. Browne suggests avoiding the chicken-or-egg discussion when it comes to these two men.

“When it comes to assignation, who gets the credit, or who did what, I don’t think either one cares,” he said. “Tiger Woods wanted to be the Greatest player. Tim wanted to grow the game. Both did that… and they left the game better than it was when they came into it. That’s the definition of Greatness. That’s why they deserve everything they get. That’s why they’re going into the Hall of Fame. ”

Together. As it should be.