Wednesday, August 23, 2000
Nike admits it: Tiger Woods
doesn't use the balls he endorses
By DAVID KRAVETS
Associated Press Writer
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Tiger Woods endorses
“Nike Tour Accuracy” golf balls in TV and magazine ads,
but he really plays with custom-made balls unavailable to everyday
duffers, Nike acknowledged Tuesday after being sued in federal
court.
Nike Inc. said the balls Woods uses for
his monster swings that produce 300-plus-yard drives have a slightly
harder inner and outer core than the balls sold to the public.
“Those two elements are slightly firmer
than the marketed ball,” Mike Kelly, marketing director for
Nike Golf, told The Associated Press.
Kelly said it's common practice in the golfing
world to sell the public different products than what the pros
really use.
“It's an industry practice to make
minor specification changes to golf products: irons, putters and
golf balls for tour players,” Kelly said. “Slight specification
and modifications need to be made to their equipment for their
game.”
But other leading names in golf say their
customers get exactly what their pros endorse.
Joe Gomes, a spokesman for Titleist, of
Fairhaven, Mass., said its players use the same products they
advertise. And if a player uses a “tweaked” version
of a club, he said, a consumer could special order it.
“We are very particular about our advertisements.
We don't make any claims that cannot be substantiated in both
golf balls and clubs,” Gomes said.
Callaway Golf of Carlsbad, Calif., said
that if one of its golf pros says he uses a certain club, that
identical club is available retail. Spokesman Larry Dorman did
say, however, that in February, one of its golf balls had a different
number of dimples on it than the ones its pros used.
That occurred, he said, because Callaway
was awaiting approval of the new ball by the United States Golfing
Association, so the company's pros were briefly forbidden from
using it in tournaments.
“We used a prototype with a different
number of dimples,” Dorman said. “As a result, for a
very short period of time, there was a little bit of a lapse from
what was being marketed. We were very up front about it.”
Woods' agent, Mark Steinberg, did not immediately
return a call requesting comment on the lawsuit.
In the suit filed Tuesday in U.S. District
Court in San Francisco, a nonprofit group called Public Remedies
Inc. claimed Nike, based in Beaverton, Ore., was engaging in unfair
business practices. It asks that Nike's “ill-gotten gains”
be restored to the public.
“Tiger Woods does not play the Nike
Tour Accuracy golf ball, but instead plays one with a different
composition and performance characteristics specially made for
him ... and not available to the general public,” the suit
said.
The group did not return repeated calls
for comment.
Woods officially switched to the Nike Tour
Accuracy ball before the U.S. Open, the first of his three major
championships this year. The move officially ended a marketing
conflict between Woods' top two golf sponsors — Nike and
Titleist — that began last year when Nike entered the ball
market.
Titleist argued that Nike was using Woods
to promote golf balls because of two commercials — one that
showed Woods bouncing a ball off his wedge, and another that showed
hackers on the range belting 300-yard drives as soon as Woods
showed up.
Titleist contemplated a lawsuit, but instead
reworked Woods' deal so that he was paid only when he used Titleist
equipment in tournaments. Titleist also gave up its right to have
its logo on his bag and to use Woods in advertisements.
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