Nike advert summons ghostly voice of Tiger Woods's father

Role model: Tiger with his father Earl, who he said would have been disappointed in him
13 April 2012

It is the latest bizarre twist to the Tiger Woods story. An advertising video has been released showing a sombre Woods staring directly into the camera as he is admonished by the voice of his late father.

In a reference to the sex scandal that has engulfed the world's number one golfer, Earl Woods, who was the guiding light in his son's remarkable career until his death four years ago, asks: "Did you learn anything?"

The spooky message from the grave was aired last night in the US on the eve of Woods's comeback after five months away from golf following his confession of a string of affairs.

He tees off at 6.42pm UK time in the first round of the US Masters, hoping to add to the four champions' green jackets he has already claimed at Augusta.

In the 28-second, black and white recording promoting Nike, Earl Woods says: "Tiger, I am more prone to be inquisitive, to promote discussion. I want to find out what your thinking was. I want to find out what your feelings are. And did you learn anything?"

Woods has described his father as his "greatest role model" and admitted he would have been "very disappointed" by his behaviour.

Nike, from whom Woods earns a reported £26 million a year, is one of the few sponsors to stand by him throughout the revelations, which started in November when he crashed his car into a tree outside his Florida home.

Since then Woods, who is married with two children, has spent two spells in rehab and confessed to serial adultery.

Nike spokesman Derek Kent said: "We support Tiger and his family. As he returns to competitive golf, the ad addresses his time away from the game using the powerful words of his father."

Woods, 34, who has won 14 majors, said in February: "I was unfaithful, I had affairs, I cheated. I'm the only person to blame. I convinced myself that normal rules did not apply. I thought only about myself ... I was wrong."

More than a dozen women have claimed to have had relationships with Woods. One, porn star Joslyn James, will star in a strip show today near Augusta at the Pink Pony nightclub. His wife Elin will not attend the Masters.

Billy Payne, chairman of the Augusta National Golf Club, which hosts the Masters, said that Woods "forgot to remember that with fame and fortune comes responsibility, not invisibility".

He added: "It is not simply the degree of his conduct that is so egregious here. It is the fact that he disappointed all of us.

"Our hero did not live up to the expectations of the role model we saw for our children. His future will never again be measured only by his performance against par, but by the sincerity of his efforts to change."

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