As a groundswell, the collapse of the American automotive and financial sector arrived to the golf industry by significant cuts in golf sponsorship budgets. The sponsorships shrunk by 3.7% according to IEG LLC.
As one of the major sponsors of Tiger Woods, Buick (General Motors), had to rationalize its sponsorship. Buick is involved also in PGA Tour. At the same time, some companies are staying like Accenture, Bridgestone, Delta Airlines, Zurich Financial Services and AT&T. In addition, Mercedes-Benz USA is joining to the sponsors of PGA Tour.
The situation is not as bad it could be, but if the number TV viewers will keep on decreasing, we can expect even further golf sponsorship budget cuts. It is true not just for golf.