Tiger Woods may be back on top, but will Nike buy it?
With the Masters less than a month away and two PGA wins this season, a win in two weeks would mean Tiger is again number one in the world. And it shows, says Jay Coffin, editor at Golfchannel.com.
“He’s got the swagger, he’s got the look, he’s got the confidence, he’s got the name,” Coffin says. And last week on a golf course in Doral, Florida, Coffin says the stands were flooded with fans.
“Just about everybody that was at that golf course wanted a piece of what it was that he was doing, because they feel that he’s back. Because it looks like he has the potential to do things that he used to do,” says Coffin.
But has Tiger gotten his sponsorship mojo back? That depends, says David Schwab, senior vice president at Octagon, a sports and entertainment marketing agency.
“Nobody agrees with what he did,” Schwab says. “The question is, is he a legitimate, authentic, true endorser for a product that one would buy? And for products that are performance related, he is.”
Tiger’s indiscretions cost him his wife, and some huge endorsement deals like Gatorade and Gillette. But remaining are lucrative contracts with Nike, Rolex, and EA Sports.
Woods is still in a position where he can pick and choose endorsement deals, Schwab says. But it’s unclear whether he’ll ever win back the deals where moms are often doing the shopping, especially grocery items and other consumer goods.
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