Tiger Woods in the Marketplace
PHILLIPS: The Tiger Woods scandal may eventually cost him his marriage, but the world's greatest golfer is definitely paying a steep price already -- ducking the PGA Tour for an indefinite period, losing a couple of big-dollar sponsors, not to mention a public relations earthquake that's shaken a once squeaky clean image. Here's CNN's Patrick Snell.</s>DAVID LETTERMAN, "THE DAVID LETTERMAN SHOW": Boy, it looks like that Tiger Woods is having some trouble, huh?</s>LETTERMAN: They say he may no longer be on the box of Wheaties, and I was thinking, well, my God, if he's actually this active...</s>PATRICK SNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): So this is what it's come to for Tiger Woods, from global icon revered for his dominance on the golf course, to the butt of jokes on late-night television for his alleged affairs off it. With his image suffering, many wonder if he still has the ability to be an effective corporate pitchman.</s>GRAHAM HALES, MARKETING DIRECTOR: What you're looking for with these endorsements, a degree of predictability; i.e., we understand the person and we can see how it's all going to work out. But they also need to be interesting. We have now gone past the point where Tiger Woods is interesting. And a lot of his role model persona and the way that people held themselves up to sort of -- see Tiger Woods as being a great sports person is eroding fast.</s>SNELL: And the dominoes are starting to fall. Gillette announced they won't air commercials with Woods or use him for personal appearances for now, and Accenture, the global consulting firm, announced they are severing ties.</s>RICK HORROW, CEO, HORROW SPORTS VENTURES: I'm not surprised with the decision relative to Accenture, but I'm surprised with the language. If you look at his statement, their statement, they say that he is no longer the right representative for the advertising. The first corporation that really came out and basically hit him right between the eyes.</s>SNELL: Meanwhile, EA Sports and Nike are two companies that continue to stand by Woods.</s>HORROW: What's in it for Nike is the perpetuation of somewhere near the $800 million of annual sales. Now, Tiger is the reason Nike Golf is as prolific. If you substitute other endorsers, it's not the same. This is unprecedented. This will make every marketing textbook in every case study all across the world.</s>SNELL: Woods has decided to take an indefinite leave of absence from golf. But when he does return, the PGA Tour and television networks will also need to decide if he'll still be the cover boy for the tournaments he plays in.</s>DAVID DUSEK, DUTY EDITOR, GOLF.COM: When Tiger Woods initially makes his return to the PGA tour, it will be very difficult for the folks who run the tour to put him in PSAs, to really have be the face of the PGA Tour. If he starts winning, if he starts winning major championships again in 2010, then certainly that will change. But right off the bat, I think it will be a little bit of a stretch for Tiger Woods to really be sort of the flagship person or the brand, if you will, for any major organization. I think that right now he's just simply too hot a commodity values. for somebody to put out in front and say this is the person who represents us and all of our</s>SNELL: "Forbes" magazine touted Woods as the first athlete to surpass the billion-dollar mark in career earnings, with nearly 80 percent of it reportedly coming from his role as a pitchman. Only time will tell if he'll make another billion as fast as he made the first. Patrick Snell, CNN, Atlanta.</s>PHILLIPS: Well, I know it's hard for many of us to relate to the life and money of Tiger Woods. And that's why I so much wanted to include a personal friend of mine for a larger discussion on this. Many of us remember her for this watershed moment, jumping into the pond at the 18th green after winning the 1988 Nabisco Dinah Shore Classic. And by the way, she also won 28 other tournaments, including five majors. She's also, did I mention, LPGA World Golf Hall of Famer. The "Lady of the Lake," Amy Alcott, joins us live from Los Angeles today. And Amy, I know this is such a controversial subject, and it's hard for a lot of golfers to talk about, because I think it, no doubt, shocked everybody. So let's look at just the game of golf, the business of golf.</s>AMY ALCOTT, FMR. PROFESSIONAL GOLFER: Right.</s>PHILLIPS: And, you know, you were telling me that this scandal is going to impact the game on so many levels. Where do you think it's going to take the biggest hit?</s>ALCOTT: Well, Kyra, great to be with you, by the way. Lovely to see you. I think that golf is bigger than this. I mean, golf will go on. Golf will survive. It's the most amazing sport that there is, most challenging sport, but this certainly makes everyone take a step back. You know, there is the amazing Tiger Woods, the incomparable Tiger Woods, and then there is the personal scandal involved which is really -- will kind of, you know, stop golf in it tracks, so to speak, right now and make it a very controversial, you know, subject to talk about.</s>PHILLIPS: Well, let's talk about where though that it is. I mean, yes, we know golf is going to survive, and every dedicated golfer is still going to love the game. But let's lay it out there. I mean, it's going to lose ratings, it's going to lose the crowd.</s>ALCOTT: Yes.</s>PHILLIPS: I mean, put into perspective what he did for this game and how this scandal is going to affect the business of this game.</s>ALCOTT: Well, you know, it's obvious. Tiger Woods has been golf. I mean, when he doesn't show up, tournaments, they lose 50 percent of their following. He's gate. He's ticket. He is golf. And pro golfers will tell you he's the man. And this is really, you know, something that's taking golf back off the radar and putting it -- the radar is all about, you know, what he's -- all his personal transgressions and everything like that. And it's -- beyond saying it's sad and it's hard to watch, you can always say, OK, well, it's like Mae West -- "I don't care what they say about me as long as they talk about me." But in many ways, this is hurting the game and people don't want to talk about it because it's bringing it over into the -- you know, the news sessions. And everybody's talking about it. So, you know, it's...</s>PHILLIPS: Well, and let me ask you this, too. I mean, we talk about his sponsorship, how much money he is worth, everybody that wanted a piece of him in the advertising world, but he also upped the ante for other golfers, didn't he? Didn't other guys get better deals and get...</s>ALCOTT: Oh, yes. No question.</s>PHILLIPS: Explain that.</s>ALCOTT: The money -- anybody will tell you, he has created -- opened the floodgates for other professional golfers to make money. Many of the top golfers will tell you he has, you know, padded their pocketbooks in a big way because he's been the guy who's really changed the face of golf. In many ways, Tiger Woods -- I tell people -- I mean, it's been a privilege to live during a time to watch this man compete and do what he does. Nobody has played golf the way this man has.</s>PHILLIPS: Let me ask you something. Let me follow up on that, because you brought up an interesting point. No one has played golf the way this man has. And I have watched you play. We have talked about the game of golf for more than a decade, and the mental aspect is so key to this game. Looking at what he's going through, OK, which is huge, do you think he will ever be able to come back to this game with the mental strength that he had to be the greatest golfer in the world, or is this...</s>ALCOTT: Well, you know, Kyra, golf is an amazing game of resurrecting yourself. If you have the courage, the desire, the fight, the will to bring something back, I mean, golf loves these kind of stories. Golf loves people making comebacks. This has been documented throughout the history of the game, where you had it and then you kind of lose your desire or fall off the radar and you make a comeback. I mean, I think golf will be waiting for him to see what Tiger will do when he does decide to come back, because I think, you know, if he has the fight, if he has the want, if he has the courage, it's got to come from deep inside of him to say, I want to play this game and I want to be better than I was, then he can do that. But he's got to have that within him. Golf love this is kind of stuff.</s>PHILLIPS: Wow. Well, it's going to be interesting to watch. Amy, always good to see you and to talk to you about things. Appreciate your insight.</s>ALCOTT: Thanks, Kyra.</s>PHILLIPS: You bet. So what do you guys think about the business of pro golf surviving this scandal? Here are some of your tweets. Dan says, "Golf was thriving before Woods and will most definitely survive without the dimwit." Michael J.W. Jr. says, "No, Kyra. Every tournament will now have an asterisk noting Tiger's absence from it. Golf needs someone to fill in the huge void left now." SpiderBite says, "If the music business never seems to be in short of scandal, well, I doubt one man's indiscretions will affect the entire golf industry." And From LouisRD3, "I give Tiger until the first major of the year. He will then return and work out his family issues. Both need each other." Thanks for all the tweets. We love hearing from you at KyraCNN. After tragedy on Mt. 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