We've just finished compiling a list for Lycos Sports of last week's 10 most-searched-for golfers. Here's the list -- for comparison purposes we'll list the percentage of search "votes" each got compared to others in the top 10:
48.5% Tiger Woods
15.1% Jan Stephenson
13.9% Jack Nicklaus
8.6% Greg Norman
3.7% Fred Couples
3.2% Annika Sorenstam
2.6% Notah Begay
1.6% Arnold Palmer
1.6% David Duval
1.2% John Daly
Yes, Tiger Woods got nearly as many searches as the rest of the top 10 combined. That's a rare lead in any sport except for tennis, where Anna Kournikova enjoys a similar advantage over the rest of the field.
However, is Tiger Woods the most popular athlete in sports? Not according to Lycos users. Last week Tiger was only #6 on our overall sports list, after Kournikova, Mike Tyson, John Rocker, Martina Hingis, Kobe Bryant, and Mary Pierce. (On our list from the past year Woods came in only 13th.) Woods is a popular figure for sure, but he's not the runaway winner everyone seems to think.
This list also shows how popular old-timers are with the public. Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer are decades past their best golf, yet they remain popular searches.
Jan Stephenson fits in that same category. Once a Kournikova-like glamour girl, she's back on the tour in her late 40s -- and her former fame seems to keep her in the front of the public's mind.
This phenomenon matches what we see in other sports and even in music, where bands like Pink Floyd and the Beatles stay in the top 20 groups overall.
Finally, at least in golf it seems as if winning a tournament is no guarantee of popularity. Notah Begay is one of the most fascinating stories of the year, yet despite winning two tournaments in a row he still ranks only #7 among golfers. Ah, fickle fame.
