AT&T joins Gillette, Gatorade, Tag Heuer, and Accenture in cutting or scaling back sponsor deals

A woman walks past a Swiss watch shop displaying watches along with Tiger Woods' portrait at a shopping district in Beijing, Swiss watch maker Tag Heuer says it will scale back US advertising with Woods.. (AP Photo/Andy Wong) 
 

AT&T is hanging up on Tiger Woods.

The telecommunications giant says it will end its sponsorship agreement with Woods. AT&T joins Accenture and several other companies who have either completely cut ties or suspended sponsorship with the disgraced golfer.

Swiss watch maker Tag Heuer, said it would stand by Woods but it has scaled back its use of advertising with him in the US.

In a statement, AT&T said: "We are ending our sponsorship agreement with Tiger Woods and wish him well in the future."

Gillette and Gatorade also gave Woods the boot.

A recent University of California Davis study found that the Woods scandal could cost as much as $12 billion , when the all the economic damage is added up.

Previous updates:

Tiger Woods' alleged mistress Rachel Uchitel spoke briefly to a Florida television station,   She had the opportunity to deny that she is seeing Woods but instead said she wouldn't comment on the reports.  Some have suggested that she is intentionally feeding the rumors for attention and to keep herself associated with Woods.  Is she playing the press?  Click here for more details and to view the interview with her.

A widely circulated e-mail reports that Woods went to Arizona just after he was released from the hospital on the day of his crash.  The purpose of the Arizona trip was to be treated for facial injuries.   According to the e-mail, Woods' injuries were so severe that he required extensive plastic surgery in Arizona.  Woods' agent said the story wasn't true.  Veteran sportswriter Furman Bisher reported the story and said the information was given to him by a trustworthy colleague.  It is unclear whether the e-mail was the result of Bisher's story or if Bisher printed the story not knowing that he had been forwarded a viral e-mail.   Click here for more and for links to Bisher's Web site and his response to the controversy.

Meanwhile, the Woods scandal has been fodder for comics since day one.   Now, the scandal has been immortalized in Jib-Jab's annual look back to the year that was.  Near the end of the video, a cut out of Nordegren can be seen whacking Woods with a golf club.   It appears that the Tiger Woods scandal was a bit of an afterthought.   No doubt the video makers were well into production when Woods' November 27 accident happened.  Less famous scandals are given more prominence. Click here for more and to view the video.

According to Entertainment Tonight, Tiger Woods was spotted at private parties with his first alleged mistress, Rachel Uchitel, over the weekend.   He was seen holding Uchitel's hand at one party. Click here for details.

A couple of UC Davis economists say the Tiger Woods mistress scandal may wind up costing  as much as $12 billion.   Click here for the story.

Bollywood star and former Miss Universe Lara Dutta is the latest women connected with Tiger Woods.  Click here for details.

A British newspaper is reporting that Cuba Gooding Jr is being eyed for the starring role in a Cuba Gooding Jr move.   Story here.

Tiger Woods shuts down Web site forum, one poster calls him 'garbage,' another a 'fraud'

Tiger Woods and his first alleged mistress, Rachel Uchitel, are together again,  in love, and have no intention of ending their relationship any time soon, according to FOX News’ sources. Click here for details.

Unlike Woods, Uchitel is not hiding out.  TMZ is publishing a series of photos of her strolling the beach in a bikini.  Click here for the photos.

She was also videotaped by a local TV crew.  She politely told the crew she had no comment.   Click here to watch the video. 

Uchitel was reportedly  paid millions of dollars for her silence about the couple’s affair.

Swedish golfer Helen Alfredsson says she first learned that Woods was cheating last summer.  She called Woods "cold" and  said that there was "something odd about him."  Click here for more.