Golf makes them and Google pairs them. The fate of Tiger Woods and LIV Golf is strange, today more than ever distant in the real world of golf but brought closer – at least in the United States – by an algorithm.
Not a random one, but the Algorithm: according to Google Tiger Woods and LIV Golf are the most searched golf words in 2022. The power of science and technology and the hunger for golf that drives Americans to constantly search for news on the Net.
And the Net records, archives and classifies. The data relating to the year to come have been classified according to three categories. The categories are “golfer”, “golf words” and “golf questions”.
Without going into technical detail, to understand the different weight of the items in each single ranking it is important to know that the first item has been assigned a value of 100. Despite playing only three races in a season (nine rounds in all, four at Augusta, three at the PGA Championship and two at the Open Championship) and one exhibition with his son Charlie these days, Tiger Woods remains the totem of online searches .
The February 2021 incident does not seem to have affected its GOAT aura. After all, Google has done nothing but further certify what the world of golf had already sanctioned. Not later than a month ago Woods had again won the Player Impact Program, which is the special award of the PGA Tour for the most influential professional at a social and media level.
The check for 2022 was $15 million. The second (McIlroy) got twelve, the third (Spieth) nine.
Google and golf
Tiger Woods 100
Phil Mickelson 24.62
Rory McIlroy 20.87
Scottie Scheffer 20.57
Paige Spiranac 16.48
Jordan Spieth 16.12
Cameron Smith 14.6
Justin Thomas 11.41
Dustin Johnson 10.67
Rickie Fowler 8.85 In the ranking made known by Golf Digest, second place goes to Tiger Woods’ now former rival on the field, namely Mr.
Phil Mickelson. Lefty has a search index of 24.62, an infinite number less than the record holder’s 100. And to think that away from the field Lefty was the absolute protagonist of golf in 2022. His controversial farewell to the PGA Tour was accompanied by considerable media coverage and therefore a massive amount of online searches.
And before making the leap to the Super League, Mickelson had taken a sort of sabbatical, without playing and without speaking. Yet it wasn’t enough to undermine Woods in online searches. The third place of Rory McIlroy, the most successful player on the field this year, is understandable.
For him, an index of 20.87, a little more than Scottie Scheffer, Masters Champion 2022 and ruler of the first part of the season when he was “almost unknown” (so it was more than explicable to look for traces on the Net).
Nine out of ten golfers are men, four are under contract with LIV Golf while the only woman in the standings is in fact… a former golfer. We are talking about Paige Spiranac, in the past close to the world of professionalism and now comfortable in the role of golf influencer.
With her 3.7 million followers, Spiranac fills social media boards around the world. She doesn’t always talk about golf and when she does it often the eye of the follower doesn’t really focus on stance or grip. Yet Spiranac is now a case study. According to Google, her name is much more sought after than that of former number one in the ranking Dustin Johnson.
