Tiger Woods's future is uncertain

Bob McDonald, who is also chairman of the Cincinnati-based consumer products company, says he doesn't know whether golfer Tiger Woods will ever appear in another Gillette commercial, and everyone else wonders when he'll next appear in a televised golf tournament.

McDonald says P&G wishes Woods the best on his efforts to work on family issues, after Woods' public apology for infidelity last Friday.

The comments came as others with ties to Woods await word on his plans to return to the PGA Tour. Meanwhile, WFTV.com in Orlando, Fla., says Woods and his wife have offered a personal apology for media attention to parents of children at the preschool that their 2-year-old daughter attends.

Woods said last week he plans to return to golf, but doesn't know when, leaving the possibility of upcoming major PGA events such as the Masters running on television without him as a drawing card. Tournaments in which Woods isn't playing generally suffer a drop in viewership and a loss of advertising revenue(not discount golf clubs), says Larry Novenstern, executive vice president of Optimedia.

For Procter & Gamble, Woods still appears online among the "Gillette Champions," but new commercials for a Gillette shaver and related products feature baseball's Derek Jeter and tennis' Roger Federer but not Woods. The three were in Gillette's major advertising campaign last year.

P&G unit Gillette signed Woods to a contract in 2007; Gillette officials decline to say its length and value. AT&T Inc. and Accenture dropped Woods completely in the weeks after the first revelations about his personal life. Gillette was among sponsors that de-emphasized him in their golf clubs marketing.

Meanwhile, McDonald said P&G is pleased with returns so far on its biggest Olympic involvement yet, as a sponsor of the U.S. team in Vancouver and also of individual athletes. He mentioned speedskater Apolo Anton Ohno, who set a U.S. team record by winning his seventh Winter Olympics medal, appearing in Vicks cold medicine commercials.

With television ratings up amid a strong U.S. team performance, P&G is running a "Thank you, Mom" advertising campaign that has included help with travel expenses for athletes' mothers.

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