Tiger Woods Dominates in Public's Mind as Best Golfer; for Golf Fans, Better Even Than Nicklaus in His Prime

GALLUP NEWS SERVICE

PRINCETON, NJ -- Tiger Woods dominates the sport of professional golf in a way unequaled by any athlete in either baseball or basketball, according to a new Gallup poll conducted the weekend of March 30-April 2. As golf's greatest players compete this weekend in the Masters Tournament, an overwhelming 81% of golf fans consider Woods to be the greatest of the great -- the best active golf pro in the world. Jack Nicklaus comes in a very distant second -- at 4%.

To put this in perspective, 69% of all of those polled -- golf fans or not -- named Woods as the #1 golfer. By comparison, just 18% of Americans selected Mark McGwire as the greatest baseball player active today, and 13% named Shaquille O'Neal as the greatest active basketball player. In fact, 50% of those polled could not name a single basketball player for the honor, and 43% could not name a baseball player. By contrast, only 23% of adults, golf fans or not, were unable to name a golfer as "best," and Tiger Woods got the overwhelming majority of those who did make a choice.

Could Tiger Take Jack?
Gallup asked golf fans to compare Woods today and legendary golf great Jack Nicklaus in his prime -- when he dominated the golf world in similar fashion during the 1970s. Even though Woods is just 24, and has won only two of the "majors" (the Masters in 1997, and the PGA Championship last year) compared to Nicklaus' lifetime record of 18 major titles, the fans still come down on the side of Woods. Fifty-three percent of golf fans say Woods today is better than was Nicklaus at his peak, while 41% say Nicklaus then was better than Woods now.

Woods Gets Credit for Golf's New Popularity
Industry leaders give Tiger Woods credit for an explosion of interest in golf, especially among minorities and young people. However, Gallup's findings show golf remains very much a niche sport for many Americans. Just 5% say golf is their favorite sport to watch, far behind football (33%), basketball (16%), and baseball (13%). Additionally, only one in three Americans consider themselves to be fans of professional golf (34%), while 55% say they are baseball fans and 46% say they are basketball fans.

As might be expected, fan support for professional golf largely is close to the percentage of Americans who play the game. Twenty percent of the adult population in the U.S. play the game regularly or occasionally, while another 13% play rarely -- a total of 33%.

Despite the image of golf as a game for elderly duffers, the largest percentages of those who play golf come from the 30-49 age bracket (24%) and the 18-29 age bracket (21%). Golf appears to be slightly more popular in the West (23%) and the Midwest (22%) than in the East (18%) and the South (17%). And despite industry statistics that show an increase in interest among women, golf remains a sport dominated by men: 32% of men play regularly or occasionally, compared to 9% of women. Golf is, however, clearly a sport that requires money: 29% of those who make $50,000 or more play golf, compared to just 5% among those making less than $20,000 a year.

Dream Courses Around the World
Television brings the golf fan images of the world's greatest golf courses, perfectly manicured oases for the golf game of a lifetime. For the first time, Gallup interviewers asked those who play the game regularly or occasionally, "If you could play any golf course in the world, which one would it be?"

One might expect Augusta National Golf Club, where the Masters is being played this weekend, to top the list. However, the overwhelming favorite "dream course" was Pebble Beach, the site of this year's U.S. Open; 37% of golfers selected it as the course they would most like to play. Augusta National finished second with 11%, and the "birthplace of golf," Scotland's St. Andrews, was third with 8%. Thirty-three percent of golfers mentioned other courses, such as Pinehurst and the TPC at Sawgrass, but none received significant support.

Survey Methods
The results below are based on telephone interviews with a randomly selected national sample of 998 adults, 18 years and older, conducted March 30-April 2, 2000. For results based on this sample, one can say with 95 percent confidence that the maximum error attributable to sampling and other random effects is plus or minus 3 percentage points. In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls. For results based on the sample of those who described themselves as fans of professional golf, one can say with 95 percent confidence that the maximum error attributable to sampling and other random effects is plus or minus 7 percentage points; and for results based on the sample of those who play golf regularly or occasionally, the maximum error is plus or minus 8 percentage points.

What is your favorite sport to watch?

	2000 Mar	1998 Nov	1997 Apr**	1995 Apr	1994 Sep	1994 Aug
Football	33%	36%	30%	32%	37%	35%
Basketball	16	12	17	15	13	11
Baseball	13	16	14	16	16	21
Ice hockey	5	3	3	3	1	3
Golf	5	3	5	4	3	3
Auto Racing	5	3	7	2	2	2
Ice/ Figure Skating	4	2	2	2	3	3
Soccer	2	2	2	1	2	2
Boxing	2	1	2	1	1	1
Tennis	1	2	2	2	3	2
Wrestling	1	1	1	1	*	1
Gymnastics	1	1	1	0	0	*
Bowling	*	1	*	1	*	*
Fishing	*	1	*	1	*	*
Swimming	*	--	--	--	--	--
Horse Racing	--	*	1	0	0	*
OTHER	3	6	6	7	5	5
NONE	8	9	6	10	12	10
No opinion	1	1	1	2	2	1
	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%

* Less than 0.5%
** Question wording:What is your favorite sport to watch?

LONG TERM TREND

	Football	Baseball	Basketball	Tennis	Golf
2000 Mar 30-Apr 2	33%	13	15	1	5
1998 Nov 20-22	36%	16	12	2	3
1997 Apr 18-20**	30%	14	17	2	5
1995 Apr 17-19	32%	16	15	2	4
1994 Sep	37%	16	13	3	3
1994 Aug	35%	21	11	2	3
1992 Sept	38%	16	12	5	3
1990 Feb	35%	16	15	3	2
1981	38%	16	9	--	--
1972	36%	21	8	--	--
1960	21%	34	9	--	--
1948	17%	39	10	--	--

** Question wording:What is your favorite sport to follow?

For each of the following, please say whether you are a fan of that sport or not. First, … [RANDOM ORDER]

A. Professional baseball

	Yes, a fan	SOMEWHAT A FAN OF (vol.)	No, not a fan
2000 Mar 30-Apr 2	45%	10	45
1999 Nov 18-21	45%	16	39
1999 Oct 21-24	37%	10	53
1999 July 13-14	40%	19	41
1999 Mar 19-21	34%	15	51
1998 Oct 9-12	47%	14	39
1998 Sep 14-15	45%	18	37
1998 Jun 22-23	34%	10	56
1996 Mar 15-17	38%	10	52
1995 Oct 5-7	34%	8	58
1995 Jul 7-9	35%	13	52
1995 May 11-14	35%	10	55
1995 Apr 17-19	32%	9	59
1995 Feb 24-26	37%	12	51
1995 Jan 16-18	37%	8	55
1994 Oct 17-19	39%	9	52
1994 Sep 6-7	35%	11	54
1994 Aug 15-16	39%	10	51
1994 Aug 8-9	35%	30	45
1993 May 21-23	39%	10	51
1993 Feb 12-14	44%	7	49

B. Professional basketball

2000 Mar 30-Apr 2	38%	8	54
99 Jan 15-17	31%	11	58
99 Jan 6	29%	12	59
98 Oct 9-12	36%	10	54
94 Mar 11-13	32%	11	57

C. Professional golf

2000 Mar 30-Apr 2

26%

8

66

Who would you, yourself, say is the greatest professional golf player active in golf today?
BASED ON -- 264 -- GOLF FANS; +/- 7 PCT PTS

	Golf fans	National adults
Tiger Woods	81%	69%
Jack Nicklaus	4	2
Arnold Palmer	3	2
OTHER	7	4
No opinion	5	23

Who do you think is the better golfer - Tiger Woods today or Jack Nicklaus in his prime?

	Tiger Woods today	Jack Nicklaus in his prime	SAME (vol.)	No opinion
NATIONAL ADULTS
2000 Mar 30-Apr 2	40%	41	2	17
GOLF FANS
2000 Mar 30-Apr 2	53%	41	1	5

How often, if ever, do you golf - regularly, occasionally, rarely or never?

	Regularly	Occasionally	Rarely	Never	No opinion
2000 Mar 30-Apr 2	7%	13	13	67	*

If you could play any golf course in the world, which one would you choose?
[BASED ON --205-- WHO PLAY GOLF REGULARLY OR OCCASIONALLY; +/- 8 PCT PTS]

	Mar 30- Apr 2 2000
Pebble Beach	37%
Augusta National	11
St. Andrews	8
Pinehurst	2
Sawgrass	1
Other	30
No opinion	11

* Less than 0.5%
(vol.) Volunteered response