Tiger Woods helping drive up Masters ticket prices

When Tiger Woods plays, people pay.

The expected presence of the four-time Masters Tournament champion in Augusta next week appears to be driving up the price of practice-round tickets and tournament badges on the secondary market, despite the fact Woods has only played Augusta once since 2013, the last year he won any tournament.

“Tiger has always had an effect on prices,” said Kyle Zorn, a sales agent for TickPick.com, a secondary online marketplace for tickets. “There’s something about him. Every time he touches the course, he draws the most attention.”

Augusta National Golf Club sent an email last week to its patrons reminding them that the tournament is the only authorized source for tickets.

“Ticket(s) may not be offered for sale, sold or rented through/to third party resellers including, but not limited to, ticket brokers, travel agents, hospitality entities or scalpers,” the club wrote in the email. Failure to adhere to that policy could lead to the permanent loss of tickets.

Zorn said Woods’ strong performances in recent tournaments has boosted the secondary-market price of a Thursday tournament badge to $3,653, a 77 percent increase from last year’s Thursday badge.
StubHub.com, a competing marketplace, is listing four-day tournament badges for $9,900.

Zorn, whose company has been reselling Masters Tournament tickets and badges for five years, said Thursday is the highest-priced ticket because that is the only day fans are “guaranteed” to see Woods play. If Woods makes the cut and is in contention on Sunday, the price of that day’s badge “will go through the roof.”

“These are already the highest prices we’ve ever seen,” he said.

Woods has played five PGA Tour events this season, and he finished tied for second and tied for fifth in his last two outings.

Woods won the Masters in 1997, 2001, 2002 and 2005, tying him with Arnold Palmer for the second-most victories. Jack Nicklaus won six. Woods has fallen in the rankings in recent years because of a series of personal problems and injuries, which only intensifies fans’ attention on him.

“People want to see if he’s actually back,” Zorn said.