I got into a fascinating debate with a friend at the weekend about the relevance of Tiger Woods' personal misdemeanours in the big scheme of his career.

My friend pointed out, quite rightly, that Woods remains one of the most exceptional golfers of all time and whatever he has done personally, that will remain the case.

He added that woods has not proclaimed at every opportunity what a great man and a great husband he is.

That is down, he said, to the agents, the marketers and the PR men and to a certain extent he is correct.

Woods has been a marketers dream because he is a black man in a white man's sport (ostensibly) and helped to promote golf to a wider audience than it has ever known before.

Just look at the figures of viewers when Woods plays in tournaments or when he doesn't - they drop significantly when he is absent.

But it goes beyond that.

Woods may not have proclaimed he was an impossibly virtuous individual, but earning close to $1 billion has not come through sporting excellence alone.

Woods has been part of the development of an image which has set him up unreasonably as a paragon of virtue, of excellence and a role model across the planet.

He has given black people and those living in developing countries the belief that they too can raise their lives to new standards.

You don't have to be a golf fan to know who Tiger Woods is or what he stood for.

And that's why so many sponsors flocked to him and, understandably, he was only too happy to accept the millions they offered him to raise their profile, highlight their values and engage with the audiences they sought to attract.

In all honesty, Woods' public persona has been somewhat bland, such is the control he and his advisors have had over his image.

If Woods had simply separated from his wife and his communications team helped him to deal privately with his personal problems, perhaps he would have had no need to announce he would take a break from the sport.

But the sheer scale of his infidelity has been so extensive that it will be no surprise if more companies follow Accenture in ending their arrangements with Woods.

These companies stand for integrity and trustworthiness, traits which golf and Woods were supposed to embody.

While the likes of Nike and Gillette (despite pulling back slightly) will probably stand by him in the long term, many others will walk away.

Woods needs to get back on the course and keep doing what he does best - winning major tournaments.

In the end, that is what he will probably be remembered for most in years to come.

But by allowing himself to be put on such a pedestal, he was always there to be shot at if the slightest misdemeanour came out.

Woods' spectacular fall from grace is a lesson to all not to paint yourself as a paragon of virtue, especially if the true story is something completely different.
 
 
From the moment Tiger Woods was involved in a car accident 10 days ago, the rumour mill has been going into overdrive.

A lot of journalists and media types already knew something more was going on that a simple road incident but the extent of the alleged misdemeanours by the world’s biggest sporting icon has surprised most of us.

Tiger Woods has always maintained a perfect off-field image.

That’s why he has become the wealthiest sportsman on the planet, amassing a wealth of almost $1 billion through deals with the likes of Gillette, Accenture, Nike, EA Sports and others.

As a mercurial sportsman Woods’ impact on the global landscape is perhaps beyond even his comprehension.

When Woods burst onto the golfing scene in the early 1990s, he was a revelation, a black American proving his excellence in a traditionally white-dominated sport.

Insititutional racism still exists – bigotry and prejudice is everywhere, bubbling under the surface and Woods had done so much to prove that black sportsmen could be a success in a typically white sport.

Unlike boxers with their bravado; footballers with their posturing; and athletes before Usain Bolt brought new life to the sport, Woods gave respectability to black sportsmen in a way no one had done before.

I was shocked by his statement last week when he said he was “…dismayed to realise the full extent of what tabloid scrutiny really means. Personal sins shouldn’t require press releases and problems within a family shouldn’t have to mean public confessions.”

You’re wrong, Mr Woods. Your wealth has been based on your sporting success and squeaky clean public persona and that has now been shattered.

He had a bigger responsibility to maintain his standards than possibly anyone else in sport – and if he didn’t realise that or like it, he was perfectly happy to take the huge wealth that came his way as a consequence.

The public love a hero but there’s been a case of shadenfreude as more incidences of alleged misdemeanours come to light.

Will it harm the Woods brand in the long run? Most PR experts say no, as long as he keeps on winning, with other sportsmen cited as examples who recovered from scandal.

The difference is that none of them earned as much or were as ubiquitous as Woods, nor lived a life based on the integrity and solid values he built his brand upon.

With success comes temptation, opportunity and the show you’re human after all.

Regardless of what he said before, the only way Woods can recover some of the respect he has lost is by staging a very public press conference where he opens his heart and, without necessarily going into details, vows to make amends.

I’ve spoken to people who claim to feel very let down by his actions and there’s no doubt he has set back the progress he made when blazing a trail as one of the greatest sporting talents of his generation.

There’s more to being a great sportsman than just winning, as Woods is finding out.