TIGER WOODS: When Tiger Woods fails to win a "major" (the Masters, the British Open, the U.S. Open or the PGA Championship) it makes big news. When he wins a major tournament, it's what the media, Tiger's fans, and the sporting public expect. He is that good, and that dominant a player. He is clearly the best player in the world. But he is also the best-paid player, and Nike is one of the main reasons he makes so much money.
             Tiger earns about $90 million a year, according to an article in Golf Digest (Morrice 2006), and a large part of his earnings come through endorsements. Tiger wears the Nike "swoosh" logo on his hat and on his shirts. He endorses Nike, Nike golf clubs, along with Buick automobiles, and several other products. The Nike driver Tiger endorses (Nike SasQuatch) costs $350. Marketing professionals find Tiger Woods to be one of the most powerful spokespersons in the sporting world, not just because he is so successful (he has won 11 major tournaments, and has his eye on Jack Nicklaus's record of 18 major tournament wins), but because he is a gentleman and says all the right things.
             An article in Time magazine in April, 2007 (Park, 2007), points out that in 1996, Nike was producing sports shoes of many styles (including the very popular "Air Jordan" shoe marketed by Michael Jordan), but it had not even made one golf ball, one golf club, or anything else to do with golf. Nike had been busy paying college and university sports teams to wear its clothing (with that familiar swoosh) and footwear exclusively, but had paid little attention to golf.
             That all changed in 1996, when Nike signed teenager Tiger Woods (who had already won many tournaments as an amateur from Stanford University) to a big multi-year contract, estimated at $90 million. When Nike made the announcement, the reaction on Wall Street was initially negative. "Nike stock fell 5%," journalist Alice Park w...