Tiger Woods To Skip Buick Open For First Time In Six Years

Woods Will Not Defend Buick Open Title This Year

Tiger Woods, a Buick endorser, will skip this week’s Buick Open for the first time in six years following the birth of his first child last Monday, according to Vartan Kupelian of the DETROIT NEWS.  On his Web site, Woods said, “Everyone knows how much I hate to miss a tournament when I’m defending champion, especially when it involves one of my key sponsors in Buick.”  Buick Golf Marketing Manager Larry Peck said, “We know Tiger is a long-term partner with Buick. We know he’ll be back.”  But he acknowledged, “The complexion of the tournament will change when the No. 1 player is not in it.” Kupelian noted the tournament has “relied heavily on [Woods] in recent years to help set record attendance figures and make record charitable contributions” (DETROIT NEWS, 6/23). But Peck said there is “nothing to be ashamed of with this field. Without Tiger and Vijay [Singh] in the field, it opens the door for a lot of other guys. Anybody can win this week. It should be a great competition. I really think we’re going to have a great tournament with the field that we have” (DETROIT NEWS, 6/25).

GENERALLY SPEAKING: With General Motors announcing last week that Woods' role in promoting the Buick brand would be reduced and that he will be used to market GM's roadside assistance feature OnStar, as well as the corporation as a whole, The Marketing Arm VP Bill Glenn said, “Celebrity endorsement is really still an outstanding strategy for brands ... You’ve got to meet consumers where they live, ... and celebrity endorsements give brands a different strategy in which to achieve that. It’s very much alive" (“On The Money,” CNBC, 6/22).