Tiger Woods' Penning Days Over at Golf Digest

Tiger Woods’ bunker play always has been one of his strong suits in a whole closet full. But here’s another sign he’s redoubling his efforts to get his career out of the bunker it’s been in since his sex scandal shanked his marriage and his golf game on Thanksgiving Day 2009. He plans to focus more on his golf strokes than pen strokes for Golf Digest magazine, according to Keith J. Kelly’s Media Ink column in the New York Post.

Woods, who reportedly was scoring $1 million a year for his monthly column in Golf Digest in a deal that also gave the Conde Nast magazine exclusive rights to photos of Woods, will tee up his final column in February, Kelly reported.

Kelly quotes insiders as saying Woods is leaving the magazine, where he has been listed on the masthead for 14 years, mostly because the world’s former No. 1 player’s “wishing to take an indefinite amount of time off to regain his stroke.”

Kelly also quotes the top dog on the magazine’s masthead about the upcoming vacancy there: "Golf Digest and Tiger Woods have mutually agreed to stop his monthly bylined articles," said Jerry Tarde, chairman and editor-in-chief of Golf Digest. "His last regular column will appear in the February 2011 issue of Golf Digest, at which time he will also leave the masthead. We appreciate the insights Tiger has provided to our readers."

Woods’ marriage to Elin Nordegren exploded, imploded, and then ended in divorce over the sex scandal involving multiple affairs. His golf game hasn’t recovered, either, during a period that even included his hiring former George W. Bush press aide Ari Fleischer for awhile to help him with his PR game.

Kelly quotes this statement from Woods: "I enjoyed my relationship with Golf Digest, but we have decided it's now time for a break. I wish my friends at Golf Digest continued success."

His break from Golf Digest isn’t the only one that has occurred since his marriage landed in the rough. This week, reports surfaced that won’t be on the cover of "Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters" when EA Sports releases it on March 29 on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii, although he will appear on the PlayStation 3 Collector's Edition of the game.
Sales of the game dropped precipitously last year.

Woods also has lost a golf cart full of sponsors, including Accenture, AT&T, Gatorade, and Gillette.