One sponsor finds a way to capitalise on Tiger Woods

As commercials featuring Tiger Woods disappear from American TV screens, and the bookies take bets on which of the golfer's high-profile sponsors will be the first to cut him loose, one of the corporations most closely associated with Woods appears to have found a novel way to exploit the awkward situation.

The consultancy firm Accenture has this advertisement (above) running on the website of the Economic Times of India.

"High performers do more than weather the storm," says the headline over an image of Tiger lining up a tee shot in the pouring rain. The next frame then states: "See how high performers turn adversity to their advantage".

And finally we see the Accenture logo and the pay-off: "High performance. Delivered."

A spokesman for Accenture told The First Post on Friday evening that the ad was an old one, but would not comment on how or why it had been chosen to run now.

The decision to use it appears to run counter to the bookmakers' estimate that Accenture is the 9-4 favourite to be the first major sponsor to drop Woods as their brand pin-up.

If they are considering parting company with the golfer, then the decision probably needs to be made soon. The first big golf tournament in the States in the new year, which could mark Tiger's golfing comeback after he missed the recent Chevron Challenge, is the Accenture Match Play Championship, played at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club, Dove Mountain, in southern Arizona.

PR experts interviewed about Tiger's troubles in recent days have all said he needs to get back to golf if he is to live down the growing scandal of his various affairs - or "transgressions" - but that he must expect some teasing from spectators. Just what a sponsor needs.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This item was posted before Tiger Woods announced on his website that he is to quit professional golf indefinitely for the sake of his family.

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