Tiger Woods tipped to recover in same way as David Beckham did

Published on Wednesday 9 December 2009 23:11

JUST look at David Beckham. That was the answer from one leading golf figure yesterday when asked if Tiger Woods' image was now damaged for good.

"It will take time to repair, but I think it's doable. Time is a great healer," said Andrew 'Chubby' Chandler, head of the International Management Group whose players include Ernie Els, Lee Westwood, Darren Clarke and England cricketer Andrew Flintoff.

"Beckham is the only one I can liken Woods to. He went through pretty much the same thing and it passed in about nine months. Now he's a super-hero again who might single-handedly bring the World Cup to England."

It was in 2004 that allegations about the footballer's private life became headline news, but although publicist Max Clifford thought at the time that the Beckhams "couldn't have handled it worse from a public-relations point of view", the couple rode out the storm.

"Beckham had a very strong wife who stood by him," added Chandler. "The circumstances with Tiger might be different, but I think he'll get his life back on track. I don't think Tiger will ever be able to be as private as he was, though. He's got to be more accessible from now on and so become a little bit more real."

Television commentator and for-mer Ryder Cup player Ken Brown agrees that the wall of privacy Woods had tried to keep up has not helped him in his current crisis.

"When you put up a big defence and it breaks down the water tends to rush through," said Brown. "That's the game he's played. That's how he decided he was going to get the most out of his career, as Nick Faldo did as well. But once Tiger clears all this up it will probably be forgotten."

There has been speculation about how Woods' endorsement contracts might suffer. Pepsico have confirmed it is dropping its Gatorade Tiger Focus drink, but insisted the decision was made two days before the golfer's car crash outside his Florida home.

At the time of his unwanted publicity Beckham had deals with Police sunglasses, Vodafone, Pepsi, Adidas, Marks and Spencer, Brylcreem, Castrol oil and Gillette, but a management spokesman said: "City analysts calculated the value of the brand has increased by 4 per cent since this all started."

Gillette even commented: "We were more concerned about what we'd do if he grew a beard."

Rick Horrow, chief executive of Horrow Sports Ventures, whose clients have included the PGA and LPGA Tours, the National Football League, Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer, believes Woods' sponsors have too much invested in his success to walk away from the American sporting icon.

Horrow said: "Nike has 800 million annual reasons to stay with Tiger Woods – that's the annual revenue that Tiger has generated for Nike Golf – and other sponsors are similarly situated.

"So, while this story may get worse before it gets better, don't look for sponsors to pull out any time soon."