It’s not cheap to put on a big-name golf tournament, especially when it’s the Tiger Woods World Challenge, which pays out $1 million to whoever finishes first (this year, it was Graeme McDowell, above) and $120,000 to the golfer who finishes in last place.

Eighteen of the top players in the world take part in the event which started in 1999, a decade before he banged his Cadillac Escalade into a fire hydrant and a tree outside his Florida home at 2:30 in the morning and his life began to unravel as news of his many mistresses began to spill out. Woods has since had his personal life opened up for pretty much everybody to see and gone through a divorce. Many of his endorsement deals disappeared (see ya, Accenture, AT&T, Gatorade, and GM) and a few stuck with him (Nike, Electronic Arts). Tiger did his best to lay low for a bit.

And even though it appears that Woods has gotten his golf game back in action and he’s moving forward with his life, there is still some fallout from the scandal. Chevron pulled out as the title sponsor of the World Challenge, which benefits the Tiger Woods Foundation, after last year’s event and “a deal with a major company unexpectedly fell through at the last minute in early September,” according to the Associated Press.Continue reading...

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Con Edison makes progress in restoring NYC neighborhoods' power, while MTA offers free fares in bid to get New York moving again.

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A week after the United States Anti-Doping Agency let loose a thousand pages of painful details about how Lance Armstrong and pretty much every other top American bicycle pro of the last decade doped, Nike has finally released its own news on the matter.

Following a protest at its Beaverton, Ore., HQ yesterday, Nike this morning confirmed it's dropping the athlete with two terse paragraphs, serving up a serious financial blow to Armstrong even though still continuing to support the Livestrong philanthropic brand he founded. The sports giant just released a limited-edition collection to celebrate the 15th anniversary of Livestrong, which promotes cancer awareness and healthy living, as part of a licensing deal that will continue.

Just as Joe Paterno's name was scrubbed from the Nike campus, Armstrong will also see his name removed from the fitness center on the Nike campus in Oregon, as CNN is reporting that Nike will remove his name from the building. In tandem with Nike's news, the disgraced cyclist also announced this morning that he was stepping down from his role as chairman of Livestrong.

The news prompted a mass exodus from Team Armstrong. On the heels of Nike's announcement, sponsor Anheuser-Busch announced it's dropping the cyclist when his deal as a Michelob Ultra brand ambassador ends on Dec. 31st. The Giro brand, which produced a custom $15,000 bike helmet for Armstong's 2010 Tour de France race and a branded line of helmets, also quit Team Armstrong, along with the Honey Stinger brand and, as the Wall Street Journal reports, RadioShack .

In all, Bloomberg estimates that Armstrong stands to lose $30 million as his sponsors flee.Continue reading...

Most of the world’s best golfers are hanging out in the suburbs of Chicago this weekend, but they're not there to share a cold one and reminisce about good times. It’s the 39th Ryder Cup, the golf tournament that features the best players in Europe taking on their American counterparts every two years. 

The tourney, featuring such pros as Tiger Woods, Sergio Garcia, Rory McIlroy, and Jim Furyk, kicked off Friday and should finish up on Sunday, barring any unforeseen incidents. It is one of the few events that pro golfers team up to play rather than competing as individuals. Europe has won all but two of the events since 1995, but the Americans have the home-course advantage this time around.

Economies can be crumbling. Hemlines can be rising. Icebergs can be melting. But pretty much nothing stops these two sides from doing battle for bragging rights. After all, there is no prize money involved. It’s all about pride. And this time around, everybody around will be sporting new Ryder Cup logos, which was designed by the folks at Interbrand, which just happens to own brandchannel, as part of a brand refresh to help this tourney stand apart from all the endless rest.Continue reading...

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Before Tiger Woods came on the golf circuit and livened things up on and off the course, professional golf was decidedly unhip. The Professional Golf Association wasn’t exactly known for getting involved in anything that might have been labeled “young” or “cool.”

Times have changed, of course. Tiger’s star may be fading, but the PGA isn’t planning to give up all those new markets that Woods and friends opened up for the organization. The PGA wants to keep that young, vibrant beat going. And it’s using social media to help. This week, the PGA Tour got its first branded Twitter hashtag, #driverlove, which is being worn on the hats of players at the Northern Trust Open in California, as Mashable notes.

#driverlove tees off on golf gear manufacturer TaylorMade’s “larger campaign that plays off the special connection that some players feel with their clubs.” The brand's driverlove.taylormadegolf.com microsite is showcasing fans' tweets and twitpics of their beloved Taylor drivers using the #driverlove hashtag.Continue reading...