Tiger Woods announces new partnership with 2K Games

There are a lot of people in the golf world who became excited by recent news that Tiger Woods is once again getting involved in golf video games, partnering with 2K.

Plenty of us grew up playing Tiger Woods golf. All the way back to the ’90s, he has been around consoles and computers. If not for the effect that he had on video games, we would likely have fewer golfers, and arguably even less technology for mapping nature in video games.

Back in 2012, Augusta debuted officially for the first time and was even on the cover of the game. The amount of time and detail that went into the game was revolutionary not just for golf games, but for games in general. To get something that close to realism, which happened 10 years ago now, was a big step for golfers and game players.

More from Pro Golf Now

• Golf Rumors: LIV set to sign Masters Champion in stunning deal
• Fantasy Golf: Grant Thornton Invitational DFS Player Selections
• Brutal return leaves Will Zalatoris looking towards 2024
• Stars You Know at World Champions Cup Starts Thursday at Concession
• Fantasy Golf: An Early Look at the 2024 Masters Tournament

Tiger Woods is back in golf video games, and we should all rejoice.

You may have read my review earlier in the year when PGA 2K21 came out. Originally, all of us who had played those games earlier on in our lives were ecstatic to see something coming out that would once again let us play on real, licensed courses with actual licensed players. Instead, what we got was a bland, vanilla, boring game. The Tiger games in the mid-2000s had more depth.

I don’t need to rip into the game any more than I already did. You can read the review for that. Instead, we should take this as a positive, that maybe things can be fixed going forward. Can Tiger’s competitive drive (and the fact that his kids are prime age for video games) lead to a better game?

Imagine this. Tiger Woods is your chief competitor throughout the game. You need to try and replicate feats he accomplished throughout his career, matching and surpassing his records, all the while still playing against different stages of Tiger Woods. It’s Sunday at Augusta, you’re paired with Tiger, and on the first hole, talking up to the tee box, all you can see on the screen is Tiger staring you down. Then, as you actually get ready to hit… the controller starts shaking. During putts, it pulses, making timing that much more difficult.

Trophy hunters/achievement chasers could strive to beat every record Tiger has. Hole-in-ones, Green Jackets, Major wins, career wins… let’s even through in a section of the create a player where you are playing the US amateur, and let how you play adjust your base character stats.

There is so much that could be done to fix golf video games now that Tiger Woods is on board. Luckily, it is going to be a multi-year deal. Could this turn into football, where Tiger becomes to golf games what Madden did for football? Well, until about six years ago when they stopped caring about the product and only making money. Not as bad as FIFA, but still bad.

It’ll come out sometime this fall if you can use last year’s release date as a springboard for an estimate. Here’s hoping that an entirely new generation of golfers can get into Tiger Woods and golf games, and enjoy them the way we did 10-20 years ago.