during tournament play, he's focused and intense. away from the
spotlight, he's a man at ease, a fun-loving guy with a sense of
humor. and even when he's relaxed and playing around, woods can
find a way to make something good happen for a sponsor.
during one of his semi-annual commercial filming sessions for nike,
woods entertained the crew between takes by holding a club and
using the clubhead to bounce a
golf ball repeatedly into the air.
the movement was so effortless and precise that the ball looked
almost as though it was connected to the club with a string.
after watching for a few minutes, one of the crew members asked
woods if he could bounce the ball with the club for 30 seconds. of
course, woods answered, and with the cameras rolling, he did. he
finished with a flourish, swatting the ball in midair down the
fairway as cleanly as if it had been sitting on a tee.
thus, nike's "hacky-sack" commercial was born of a spontaneous
moment.
it was so popular, and woods had so much fun doing it, that he
developed new tricks before the next nike commercial shoot,
resulting in yet another ad.
-
swing away
video game maker electronic arts was well into the 16-month
development process of its tiger woods pga tour golf 2002 game when
the telephone rang in the office of david demartini, the company's
executive producer.
it was woods, who had been playing the 2001 edition and noticed a
problem. "he called to say, 'hey, you're using my old swing,'" said
demartini.
an ardent gamer himself, woods knew that the people who would be
playing his game expect realism, and he was determined to give it
to them. so he spent a day at ea sports wired to a computer, as he
tried to duplicate every situation that a game player might put his
video golf character through. he pitched, putted, and drove with
every club, replicated his walk down the fairway, and pointed at
the hole and pumped his fist, repeatedly, so that his signature
gesture of triumph would be as enthusiastic on a computer screen as
in real life.