Crouching Tiger casts long shadow on golf marketing.

Golf may attract the affluent and famous, but as a marketing tool, the sport is helping sponsors score better sales and visibility.

Even with smallish TV ratings, golf's upscale demographic and wholesome image is attracting a new breed of sponsors -- from granola bars to vitamins.

But even with the overwhelming success of the highly marketable Tiger Woods, the golf industry -- a key player in South Florida, with several PGA, LPGA and Senior Tour events -- still has some work to do marketing its stars beyond Woods.

Those are some of the findings in the latest Sports & Sponsorships report, a quarterly research survey exclusive to The Business Journal, done in conjunction with the Coral Gables-based sports marketing agency Sports & Sponsorships.

Among findings:

* In South Florida, 84.3 percent of the respondents polled said they are "interested" in the PGA Tour, which is slightly higher than the national numbers. For comparison, in a similar survey last year, 68 percent polled said they were "interested" in the Miami Dolphins.

* Of those interested, 43.5 percent described themselves as "somewhat interested," nearly 10 percent higher than the national equivalent.

* When asked about favorite male golfers, 61 percent predictably said Woods. Ranked second, both locally and nationally was "none," and third was Jack Nicklaus, who has strong local ties, but is in the twilight of his …