Tiger Woods is back on top of the golfing world after winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational tournament on Monday as he is the number one ranked player once again, but not all is well in Tigerland, as a Nike ad featuring him as draw fire from critics.
According to Yahoo Sports, Nike posted an ad following the win and rise to number one for Woods, with the golfer kneeling to look at the hole at the Arnold Palmer Invitational with the quote "Winning Takes Care of Everything" in front of him. The quote was from Woods himself last year and some have come out to say that the words are a bad example when it comes to Woods, as his past affair and divorce scandal should not be made light of.
Woods has said the phrase multiple times and while Nike likely did not mean for the ad to come off that way, it received a lot of media attention and had 8,000 likes and 2,000 shares on Facebook. Nike spokeswoman Beth Gast said that the ad referred to his play on the golf course and not due to his past divorce.
''When asked about his goals such as getting back to number one, he has said consistently winning is the way to get there,'' she said in an email response to a query. ''The statement references that sentiment and is a salute to his athletic performance.''
Woods has won three times this season prior to the Masters, his most since 2008. He us the favorite for Augusta in April and he has been back in the news since going public with his relationship to Lindsey Vonn, the Olympic skier.
''They're looking at this and saying, 'Time has passed, he's winning again, it's time to turn up the volume on our association,' " said Allen Adamson, managing director of branding firm Landor Associates in New York,. ''But it's risky when you associate with a celebrity only based on winning or losing. Consumers care about how you play the game: both the actual game and the game of life.''