A sparkle of Christmas cheer for Tiger Woods

As Tiger Woods floats off to the Bahamas on his yacht Privacy with a group of male friends, he has received at least a little Christmas cheer. One of his major sponsors, Tag Heuer, has decided not to drop him following revelations of the golfer's extramarital affairs. The Swiss watchmaker, which has sponsored Woods since 2002, is proclaiming on its website that "Tag Heuer stands by brand ambassador Tiger Woods".

In a statement, Tag Heuer chief executive Jean-Christophe Babin said that the designer watchmaker's partnership with Woods would continue despite Woods's decision to quit golf "indefinitely" in an effort to save his marriage. However, Babin said Tag Heuer "will downscale the use of his image in certain markets for a period of time, depending on his decision about returning to professional golf".

In making the statement, the company has backtracked on an earlier decision to distance itself from the world's number one golfer. Tag Heuer had even removed photos of Woods from its website as details about his alleged affairs with as many as 14 different women began to emerge this month.

The decision is important to Wood's finances: corporate sponsors have been responsible for a major proportion of Wood's record $1bn earnings. When the global consulting firm Accenture announced it was dropping Woods earlier this month, and Gillette said it was scaling down his role, the future looked gloomy.

Meanwhile several relatives of Jamie Jungers, one of Woods's alleged mistresses, have said that the former model told them she took naked pictures of the golfer. In a radio interview, Jungers denied that she is being paid by Woods to keep the photos a secret. ·