EA Ad For "Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14" Features Woods, Palmer In Fighting Theme

A two-minute promo for EA Sports’ “Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14: The Rumble” videogame began airing online this week, and the promo features cover athletes Tiger Woods and Arnold Palmer walking into an airplane hangar about to board a private helicopter when they are stopped by a group of threatening-looking men. Palmer and Woods proceed to fight off the five would-be thieves. The fight continues until all of the attackers were down on the ground writhing in pain. But before they can leave, Woods and Palmer are confronted by one more large, intimidating fighter. Palmer delivers several blows to the mid-section of the large fighter but he is unfazed, grabbing Palmer’s fist before he can deliver a blow to the face. At this moment, Lee Trevino rappels in on a zip-line and lands behind the large fighter, who swings but misses because Trevino dropped down into a split and struck the fighter several times in the knee. The promo ends with theme music and graphics similar to “Ocean’s 11” along with the videogame’s player avatars and the announcer saying, “The greatest golfers of all-time aren’t going down without a fight. Take on the legends. If you dare.” Golf Channel’s Kelly Tilghman said of the promo, “That is nothing short of awesome. Tiger going all Jackie Chan, Arnold Palmer as Chris Tucker, that is right out of ‘Rush Hour’” (“Morning Drive,” Golf Channel, 3/26).

TEACH AN OLD DOG NEW TRICKS: The INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS TIMES' Tom Barrabi wrote the new spot is “all about" Palmer, who at 83 is “remarkably spry for a man entering his twilight years, demonstrating the fighting skills of a much younger man.” EA Sports “must see a connection between golf and martial arts.” This is the “second straight year that the company’s ‘Tiger Woods PGA Tour’ franchise has been matched with a fighting theme.” Woods last year “faced off against” former NBAer Shaquille O’Neal in the game’s “Duel of the Masters” commercial (IBTIMES.com, 3/25). GOLFWEEK’s Nick Masuda wrote the part of the game that leaves him “the most impressed is how the franchise has changed over time.” In the first few years, it was “just a golf video game” that was “cool to play, but you could shoot 46 and not really learn much about the game.” Now users “can play all four majors, play Augusta National, learn about the game's heroes, have a bit of fun playing in conditions that are normally reserved for pros and it actually takes work to break par” (GOLFWEEK.com, 3/26).