Tiger Woods appears to be leaving IMG

Just tweeted by @TigerWoods

Staying with Mark Steinberg. Total confidence in him. Excited about the next stage in my professional life. Fond memories of Mark McCormack.

So there we have it. The suspected break from IMG seems to have happened. Will this improve his attitude and get him back to winning ways?

Playboy have picked up his contract and he will be managed by Miss July 2009

Let's hope not. It's great him being in the doldrums because golf is now about golf.

Surely you aren't insinuating that Wood's chronic form is due to his relations with his management company are you Davie?

p.s. The poor standard of grammar used by twitter users is really starting to annoy me. It is true that the number of characters is limited but is there really an excuse for being so slipshod with the English language?

I h8 when ppl try to tell I that I must right in a diff way cos of the new spelling I uses

u meen 'rite'

Don't see why anything should change, though must make for an interesting relationship with his girlfriend's step-father, Alastair Johnston; wonder if he has a "fond" relationship with him?

He's still with Steinberg who's been his willing accomplice throughout, don't expect there'll be any noticeable change going forward, except they "own" some golf tournaments he's played in the past, perhaps not in the future.
Still has to figure out if he's staying with Foley and/or Williams.

I also should have corrected the following

"the new spelling I uses"

to

"the new speels I do"

I really should pay more attention to my grammar and spelling. It is a terrible crime to abbreviate words to the extent that they become unintelligible. The next thing you know I'll be using a scottish accent.

i dont think golf misses tiger
maybe the sponsors do and im sure thousands of fans do but i think the golf course and coverage is far better with out him

aye, ken whit mister

This will be all about cash and endorsments. Tiger has seen his value drop in a big way this last 12-months. Tiger is not the cash cow he was before, and IMG have a reputation 2nd to none within the sports marketing sector. The most well known face in sport is down the pecking order and finding him multi-million $ gigs is not as easy these days, so he's spat his dummy out.

Totally wild guess, but could it be that he'll pay a smaller % of his income, but Weinberg will get (personally) more, because it's all going to him rather than the company? Possibly less clout without IMG, though.

Doc wrote:This will be all about cash and endorsments. Tiger has seen his value drop in a big way this last 12-months. Tiger is not the cash cow he was before, and IMG have a reputation 2nd to none within the sports marketing sector. The most well known face in sport is down the pecking order and finding him multi-million $ gigs is not as easy these days, so he's spat his dummy out.

Doc, you may very well be right but the way I see it, Tiger has amassed somewhere approaching $1bn if the reports are to be believed. He had to part with a couple of hundred will in his divorce which still leaves him an enormous pile.

Do you think he is still driven by money or is any motivation now based around golfing records?

Perhaps this has a lot more to do with Steinberg than it does with IMG.
Wonder if Steinberg has the key to a closetload of skeletons that Tiger would like to keep protected?

Considering how much wealth the man has amassed I cannot simply see it being a money venture. He has enough to walk away now and live for 50 lifetimes (provided he doesn't do a tyson).

Could it simply be he is sticking by a man that has stuck by him through his tribulations. Or could it be he feels he and IMG as a partnership have simply run there course which does happen in business (admittedly his off course shenanigans have helped lead to that but he is just a man)

Tigers slump has been good for golf it has shown others he is not divine and does not possess the mystic aura thought in which all he had to do was turn up to scare opponents into defeat. It has allowed others to flourish and showcase their talents with the airtime they deserve instead of broadcasters pandering to every tiger swing. It has brought something back to the OGWR in that now its a real fight for position instead of an also ran list.

But if he could recapture some form that too could be good for golf as he is still a draw for many and he still has Jacks record in sight but it'd be better to see him fight for it against the great players above him in the rankings than the procession of past years.

The other question Kwini posed re: Foley/Williams. If I were to make his decisions I'd ditch Williams and go for a more understated bag man that isn't trying to be a superstar in his own right, but someone who goes about their business professionally and offers good advice. But I would stick with Foley once you've committed to a change see it through to reap the rewards don't give up on it if it isn't working in the short term and some (not all far from it) of the rounds he's played with the changes have been good

CU LJ A KEN YER HOOSE.

Goan ya swine that yer arr ye