"We were encouraged by the fact that in spite of Tiger's absence we were doing very, very well.''

Despite the protestations of Steiny's Keeler that the PGA Tour television negotiations sped up when it was realized Tiger would not turn around his game (eye rolls go here), Bob Harig breaks down the deal and gleans this from the tour's Ty Votaw about the influence of Tiger this time around:

And yet, Woods' lack of success over the past two years did not appear to have the doom-and-gloom impact many predicted.

"We didn't get a sense it was a big deal,'' Votaw said. "This was a year in which Tiger wasn't a story line at least in terms of how he performed on Saturday and Sunday. He didn't play in that many tournaments. Tiger has always helped ratings spike against a very high core of golf fans. We saw the momentum of the younger generation pushing the veteran players [to] some compelling performances on pretty big stages. We were encouraged by the fact that in spite of Tiger's absence we were doing very, very well.''