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Tiger Woods Takes Petty Revenge on Accenture for Dropping His Sponsorship Contract

By Jim Edwards

Updated on: February 18, 2010 / 6:38 PM EST / MoneyWatch

UPDATE: Tiger Woods' Speech: More Sales Pitch Than Apology

Tiger Woods' press conference, scheduled for Friday -- he is expected to apologize for cheating on his wife with a series of lower-rung porn stars, waitresses and prostitutes -- may be Woods' revenge on Accenture for the consultancy dropping him as an endorser when the scandal broke.

Woods has scheduled his conference -- which will suck all media oxygen from any other event -- smack in the middle of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in Arizona. Woods had been expected to compete, and without him interest is down. ESPN:

"It's selfish," former U.S. Open and British Open champion Ernie Els told Golfweek magazine. "You can write that. I feel sorry for the sponsor. Mondays are a good day to make statements, not Friday. This takes a lot away from the golf tournament."

ESPN calls the conference "a clear slap at Accenture."

He's not the only person who believes Woods thinks that somehow Accenture is the villain in this pantomime, and not him.

Dan Leinweber: Absolutely. Tiger's timing is awful. He is staging his "show" in the middle of a golf tournament. It's a slap in the face of Accenture, the tournament sponsor, and his former sponsor. Ernie Els called him "selfish" for doing this.

Of all Woods' sponsors, Accenture was hurt the most by Woods' sex life, as headlines on their old ads suddenly took on bizarre new meanings. One showed Woods staring into a wet ravine under the line, "It's what you do next that counts." Another showed him kneeling in the rough with the tag, "Some watch. Some wait. Some pounce. Go on. Be a Tiger." Subtext! (Click to enlarge.) What was Accenture supposed to do? Rejoice at all the extra headlines it was earning for paying to be attached as a side note to every story on the scandal?

Even USA Today's religion columnist got the message:

Woods is certainly detached from Accenture, the sponsor that was first to drop him when the floozy news hit the fan. Woods scheduled his scene-stealing press conference during an Accenture-sponsored tournament.

Still loyal to Woods is Nike, but even that company is fielding awkward questions from Wall Street analysts wanting to know why Nike sticks with Sport's Most Tarnished Man.

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