An embattled Tiger Woods faced a dwindling roster of sponsors yesterday, after Swiss watchmaker Tag Heuer said it was dropping its US advertising campaigns featuring the golf champion.
Tag Heuer’s move came in the footsteps of consulting firm Accenture ending its six-year deal with the golf superstar and razormaker Gillette dropping him from its advertising, after the 33-year-old Woods took an indefinite break from the sport and acknowledged infidelity.
“We recognize Tiger Woods as a great sportsman, but we have to take account of the sensitivity of some consumers in relation to recent events,” Tag Heuer chief executive Jean-Christophe Babin told the Swiss newspaper Le Matin on Friday.
The company, a unit of French luxury goods empire Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA, would continue to back Woods’s charity foundation, Babin said.
STRING OF AFFAIRS
A string of alleged affairs with at least 14 women — including a porn star and a cocktail waitress — have decimated the 14-time major champion’s squeaky clean image.
AT&T, which backs the US PGA Tour event operated by the golfer’s foundation, is re-evaluating its relationship with Woods.
Yet US sportswear giant Nike, which pays Woods an estimated US$40 million a year, still backs him as it has since his 1996 pro debut, with chairman Phil Knight telling Sports Business Journal the unfolding saga is a small problem.
“When his career is over, you’ll look back on these indiscretions as a minor blip, but the media is making a big deal out of it right now,” Knight said.
But Friday did hold one bright spot of sorts: Woods was named the PGA Tour player of the year for the 10th time in 13 years.
The award is voted on by the players but the PGA declined to release the details of the vote which took place over the past four weeks.
Woods won six tournaments this year, including the FedEx Cup and its US$10 million bonus, but failed to win a major title.
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