Tiger Woods Interviewed by Golf Channel's Kelly Tilghman
The Golf Channel's Kelly Tilghman got an exclusive interview with Tiger Woods. This is his first interview since the sex scandal and a significant interview ahead of his return to the Masters next month. Tiger's eyes are really bloodshot; either he's really upset or they sprayed him with pepper spray right before the interview for that "I'm so sorry" look.
Tiger Woods called his own behavior "disgusting." He says it is hard for him to believe it was really he who committed the acts. Tiger said that he is still getting treatment and is working on his marriage, but wouldn't go into any details. He said that if his father were still alive today he would be very disappointed with him. He said he would have set him straight in language that he couldn't say on air. Tiger said that he expects to have many conversations in the future with his children to explain his actions.
Tiger Woods is also wearing a Nike hat in the interview. Nike is one of several sponsors that have stuck with Tiger Woods during the scandal.
You can watch the interview here on thegolfchannel.com.
Retailers of Tiger Woods Merchandise Eager for Masters
Tiger Woods return to golf is a very important for Nike and for retailers of golf equipment and Tiger Woods Nike apparel. Nike is one of the few sponsors that has stuck by Tiger Woods and golf stores carry a lot of Tiger Woods Nike products. Martin E. Hanaka, CEO of Golfsmith, told the New York Times, that they are looking forward to the Masters and Tiger's return.
"Selfishly, this is perfect," said Martin E. Hanaka, chairman and chief executive of Golfsmith, a 74-store golf and tennis retail chain. "The season's kicking off. The Masters is the No. 1 event. Spring is blooming. People are itching to get out there."
If Tiger Woods doesn't play well it won't be good for Nike or for golf sports retailers. Tiger Woods increases overall interest in the sport when he is at the top of his game. Some retailers had to discount Tiger Woods' apparel after the scandal broke, but only by 20%, to get products to sell.
Golfsmith and the New York Golf Center say that, at worst, sales of Woods clothing have dipped a bit. "When it happened, we didn't have deep inventories," Hanaka said. "Then we went to 20 percent off, and his stuff moved pretty well."
Gary Lynch, a salesman at the New York Golf Center on West 35th Street near Broadway, said Woods's clothing line was hurt because women were less eager to buy his $100 shirts or $130 pants for their golf-playing husbands. In addition, with Woods not playing, the store's front display table could not lay out his popular Thursday-to-Sunday schedule of shirts.
It probably depends who is purchasing the Tiger Woods products. If women are buying they are still going to be less likely to buy Tiger Woods' merchandise, even if he is winning golf matches, because of the tawdry affairs. If men are buying they will probably be less likely to buy Tiger Woods products if he is not playing well. A poor performance at the Masters, plus the scandal, could weaken the Tiger Woods' brands. The expectation in the world of golf is that Tiger Woods will play well, which is probably why Nike has stuck with the world's top golfer, even though he is a cheater.
Disgraced Golfer Tiger Woods Will Carry Nike Golf Bag at Masters
Tiger Woods will be using a golf bag with a Nike logo on it when he returns to golf at the Masters in early april. Bloombergreports that the golf bag will be carried by Tiger Woods' caddie Steve Williams.
Woods’s agent, Mark Steinberg, said in an e-mail that the bag will now feature a Nike-brand "TW" logo and be carried by long-time caddie Steve Williams.
Woods signed with Beaverton, Oregon-based Nike Inc. after turning pro in 1996. The No. 1 golfer in the official World Golf Ranking has a branded clothing line, TW, with Nike, the world’s largest maker of athletic shoes.
Tiger Woods' golf bag used to have an AT&T logo on it but AT&T withdrew is sponsorship of Tiger Woods in December. Nike made the decision to stick with Tiger Woods despite his string of tawdry affairs. President Obama thinks Tiger Woods will still be a terrific golfer when he returns.
Attorneys Issue Demand for Recall of all Tiger Woods Sex Toys
Tiger Woods' attorneys are not happy
with a company called Pipedream Products, which has created an entire line of Tiger Woodst-themed sex toys. The products include giant condoms, low-up Tiger sex dolls, and some things that are so filthy TMZ said they couldn't even describe them. Tiger's attorneys want all the items that were already sold to be recalled and the remaining times to be removed from sale and destroyed "in a manner and at a time as directed by Tiger Woods."
We've never even heard of a sex toy recall. Perhaps the FTC should get involved.
TMZ has a hilarious shot of many of the products being sold at a sex shop here.
President Obama: Tiger Woods Still Going to Be Terrific Golfer
President Obama was asked about Tiger Woods returning to the Masters by Fox News. The President said Tiger has acknowledged that he betrayed his family and "that's a personal issue he's got to work out." The President also said that he is sure Tiger Woods is "still going to be a terrific golfer." Take a look:
Disgraced Tiger Woods Plans to Return to Golf at Masters
Tiger Woods will be playing in the Masters tournament this year. It will be the first professional golf outing for Tiger Woods since his long string of tawdry affairs was revealed to the world. In the embarrassing scandal, one woman after another revealed that they had a sexual relationship with the married golf star. Tiger Woods said in a statement, "After a long and necessary time away from the game, I feel like I'm ready to start my season at Augusta. The major championships have always been a special focus in my career and, as a professional, I think Augusta is where I need to be, even though it's been a while since I last played."
The 2010 Masters is scheduled for April 5-11. Tiger Woods has won the Masters four times in his career. Take a look:
Disgraced Tiger Woods Forced to Share Video Game Cover With Another Golfer
Electronic Arts decided to stick with Tiger Woods for its video game despite his string of tawdry affairs. However, Tiger Woods is no longer alone on the game's box cover. In previous years it was just Tiger Woods on the cover of the sports video game. Now Tiger Woods has to share the cover space with Rory McIlroy, a young golfer from Northern Ireland. ESPN has an interview with Rory here.
The Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 video game will be out for the Xbox 360, Wii and PlayStation 3 in June. Tiger Woods better get his act together or the next version of the game could be called Rory McIlroy PGA Tour 12. Pictured below are some of the prior cover boxes for the Tiger Woods PGA Tour video games where a scandal-free Tiger had the cover all to himself.
The New York Postreported today that Tiger Woods has started plotting a strategy for his return to golf following his string of tawdry affairs. The Post says Tiger could play again as early as the Arnold Palmer Invitational starting March 25 at Bay Hill in Orlando, Florida. Fox Sports says Tiger Woods is more likely to return for the Masters in August, which begins April 5th. Either event is a pretty quick return following Tiger Woods' robotic apology last month. Take a look:
PETA wanted to use Tiger Woods' likeness in a billboard campaign about animal birth control. The billboard shows an image of Tiger with a caption that reads, "Too much sex can be a bad thing." It continues to say "for little Tigers too..." and encourage people to spay and neuter their pets. Tiger Woods had his lawyers put a stop to the billboard campaign. Take a look:
Gatorade announced that it is dropping its sponsorship of Tiger Woods. CNN reports:
PepsiCo's Gatorade said Friday that it has ended its business relationship with Tiger Woods.
"We no longer see a role for Tiger in our marketing efforts," a Gatorade spokesman said. He added the company's partnership with the Tiger Woods Foundation will continue.
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At first, Woods' sponsors said they would stick by their star athlete. But in December, Accenture and AT&T (T, Fortune 500) announced they were dropping sponsorship. Woods had signed a multi-year agreement with the telecom giant in February 2009, but terms of the deal weren't disclosed.
Procter & Gamble's (PG, Fortune 500) Gillette said it would stop airing commercials that feature Woods for a while, though the company stopped short of saying it would end the relationship. Other major sponsors, including Nike (NKE, Fortune 500), have stuck by Woods.
Gatorade was most likely waiting to see what the public reaction to Tiger's apology speech was. The reaction was not great and that was the end of the sponsorship.
The Dalai Lama reportedly weighed in on the Tiger Woods scandal but only because he was asked. The Dalai Lama had no idea who Tiger Woods is - and he has no reason to know - but he said that when it comes to adultery "all religions have the same idea."
Tiger Woods mentioned turning towards Buddhism in his public statement on Friday. The Dalai Lama said self-discipline is one of Buddhism's highest values. He said, "I think mainly whether you call it Buddhism or another religion, self-discipline, that's important. Self-discipline with awareness of consequences."
Janine Driver, Body Language Expert, Talks About Tiger Woods' Apology
Janine Driver, a body language expert, talks about Tiger Woods apology from earlier today. Janine Driver says this was a big moment for Tiger woods and he "didn't get a hole-in-one on this one." She says she "wasn't buying it." She says there is "no emotion there." Janine says even when Tiger Woods was telling the paparazzi to leave his wife and family alone he wasn't authentic. Take a look:
Tiger Woods gave a public statement this morning at PGA headquarters in Florida. Tiger's mother stood next to him at the press conference which was boycotted by the Golf Writers Association of America because Tiger would not take questions. Tiger Woods apologized for his behavior and acknowledged he has been selfish and irresponsible.
Now every one of you has good reason to be critical of me. I want to say to each of you, simply and directly, I am deeply sorry for my irresponsible and selfish behavior I engaged in.
I know people want to find out how I could be so selfish and so foolish. People want to know how I could have done these things to my wife, Elin, and to my children. And while I have always tried to be a private person, there are some things I want to say.
Tiger Woods says his wife Elin told him his apology to her will come through his future behavior.
Elin and I have started the process of discussing the damage caused by my behavior. As Elin pointed out to me, my real apology to her will not come in the form of words; it will come from my behavior over time. We have a lot to discuss; however, what we say to each other will remain between the two of us.
Tiger Woods also mentioned turning towards Buddhism.
I have a lot of work to do, and I intend to dedicate myself to doing it. Part of following this path for me is Buddhism, which my mother taught me at a young age. People probably don't realize it, but I was raised a Buddhist, and I actively practiced my faith from childhood until I drifted away from it in recent years. Buddhism teaches that a craving for things outside ourselves causes an unhappy and pointless search for security. It teaches me to stop following every impulse and to learn restraint. Obviously, I lost track of what I was taught.
Tiger Woods did not give a specific date for when he will return to golf but he says he doesn't know yet when that will be.
I do plan to return to golf one day, I just don't know when that day will be.
I don't rule out that it will be this year. When I do return, I need to make my behavior more respectful of the game. In recent weeks, I have received many thousands of e-mails, letters and phone calls from people expressing good wishes. To everyone who has reached out to me and my family, thank you. Your encouragement means the world to Elin and me.
Tiger Woods also says he doesn't want his family discussed in the public spotlight because of his wrongdoings. You can read a full transcript here and watch the video clips of Tiger's apology/statement below.
Security Tight at PGA Headquarters Ahead ot Tiger Woods' Press Conference
Security is said to be tight at PGA headquarters in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, where Tiger Woods will talk tomorrow morning. Tiger Woods will speak publicly for the first time since his car accident and his numerous affairs became public knowledge. The L.A. Timesreports that no one knows exactly what Tiger Woods is going to talk about. Tiger Woods is expected to apologize. He will probably also talk about when he plans to return to golf.
Golf Digestsays Tiger Woods will not take any questions from the press. Because of this the Golf Writers Association of America has decided to boycott the press conference.
"I cannot stress how strongly our board felt that this should be open to all media and also for the opportunity to question Woods," said Vartan Kupelian, president of the 950-member group.
"The position, simply put, is all or none. This is a major story of international scope. To limit the ability of journalists to attend, listen, see and question Woods goes against the grain of everything we believe."
Tiger Woods' wife, Elin Nordegren, is not expected to be next to Tiger Woods when he gives his statement tomorrow. Take a look:
Sexologist Yvonne K. Fulbright Explains What Happens at Sex Addiction Clinics
Tiger Woods is currently staying at the Pine Grove Behavioral Health & Addiction Services, a sex addiction clinic in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Tiger Woods was recently photographed at the facility by the National Enquirer. Sexologist Yvonne K. Fulbright explains what happens inside these clinics. Yvonne says the programs run about 30 days to 90 days. She says you are banned from sexual activity and you have to take a 90 day vow of abstinence. However, she says they don't bust into people's rooms to check on them so there really is nothing to stop people from having sex. Patients are also told to avoid triggers like alcohol. Take a look:
The Dalai Lama reportedly 
